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Ethan Bailey
Mrs. DeBock
English IV Honors
November 4, 2015
Service Research Paper
Political efficacy, a term used to describe ones believes if they have impact on a political
activity. Usually the only group of people to have a high political efficacy was Senior Citizens;
however that is not the case anymore. More and more teenagers have created a larger sense of
political efficacy. This sort of achievement has been years in the making, the increase in political
efficacy in the teenage population is a big deal because it will boost voting rates in this age span,
which due to the low voting rates, has been a huge problem in recent years. However why is this
just happening now? The government has focused many resources to combat this issue. This is
due to the recent achievements in social media which allows for major broad casting of ideas,
essentially a free market right to the teenagers brain. Along with government related actions to
boost political efficacy in teens, the role of social media and pop culture has impacted teens
political efficacy.
The government has tried with relentless action to increase the political efficacy of
teenagers in many ways. Australia is desperate to the point of extreme measure. In Australia to
boost teenage efficacy and voting rates, the government decreased the voting age to 16. This is
to combat what Australia and many other countries see, a lack of teenage interest in politics,
Young people are said to be uninterested in politics. This lack of political interest among

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adolescents has been used as an argument against lowering the voting age. says Eva Zeglovits,
one of the many who are concerned with the low numbers in teenage political interest. However,
with the creation of a lower voting age, the efforts have returned successful. With the decrease of
the voting age, there has became a vast increase in teenage political activity (Zeglovits). It was
reported that the teenagers got most of their views from their parents, friends, school, and every
day activities that relate back to politic (Porter). Although Australia made a break through, there
are other outside sources promoting teenage political efficacy.
Social media, a tool used from 11 year old kids to major manufacturing companies. Its
one of the only available sources for free advertising, expression of ideas, and community. A
group of twelve year old girls in Maryland would be one of the first to realize the full potential of
politics driven social media. These girls would then connect with women from Canada to
Uganda to support a day where the United Nations puts aside one day a year to recognize that
women need education. The School Girls Unite group worked with over seventy other groups
around the world to make this idea happen. Recently the School Girls Unite group has focused
their sights towards Child Marriage Prevention Bill, being considered in Congress. They
currently have 11,000 signed petitions that want to take action on the bill (Kahne). This is a
prime example of how social media has impacted and led to a rise in Political efficacy. With the
success of both their campaigns the feeling of being able to produce change in a political
aspect has increased their political efficacy. Another way of determining the increase of political
efficacy that was recently experimented with has come back with positive results. In a study of
three student activist groups, an increase in political efficacy was directly related to the success
of a political activity sponsored through the student activist group. The results came in
explaining The relationship between social media political efficacy and social media activism

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was stronger than that between the concept of political efficacy employed in prior research and
social media activism says Alcides Velasquez (Velasquez). The increase in political efficacy
does always just happen by its self, sometimes on can be lured in.
With the United States under a time of political campaigning, its not peculiar that many
candidates have turned to social media for a free platform to promote their campaign agenda and
there opinion on new hot topics. For candidates trying to win over the teenage and college age
majority, this is a great platform. In a recent study it was shown that 86% of female students use
social media and 69% of male students use social media. The research also shows that most
teenagers spend two hour and twenty minutes on social media or other computer related subjects
(Niemer). One of the major candidates of the United States race, Hilary Clinton has realized the
efficiency of using social media as a free platform. Hilary Clinton has four million followers
between her Twitter and her Facebook. She also receives 11,000 retweets (a form of republishing
a tweet) on every tweet (a post that a twitter user publishes) she sends out. This shows how
focused her social media campaign is. Within her social media campaign she tends to focus on
the everyday America, but more often teenagers. Hilary focuses the majority of her social media
time on teenager because as the statistics above show, they are the primary users. She tends to
use a more realistic view with the teenagers to encourage their efforts; she often tends to express
her campaign agenda in small ways to the teenagers to gain support. She also promotes her
webpage of which one can donate money to sign up for. When one wants to sign up for the
website one will have to pay a fee that is as little as three dollars. Then one will have access to
email updates and other inside access that her social media doesnt show case. Hilary is
estimated to make 2.5 billion dollars off of this form of donations. Her focus on the teenagers
through social media creates a sense that teenagers that agree with her have some sort of voice in

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politics, which increases there aspect of political efficacy (Akkad). However it doesnt just
benefit the teenagers but Hillary because it allows for her to promote her website for donations,
essentially creating a new form of advertisement.
Teenage efficacy has been a problem for a long time. For the longest time people have
not cared what the teenagers thought when it came to politics, politics used to be an adults
games. Now, in this modernized world the presence of teenagers who believe they have a voice
in government is an essential focus for many politicians from America to South Africa. So with
the common interest of the Government and Politicians, teen efficacy has increased.

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Citations
AKKAD, OMAR. Clinton building mass appeal at $3 a pop; Democratic front-runner is
campaigning as the people's candidate with folksy meet-and-greets and a monster socialmedia strategy." Globe & Mail [Toronto, Canada] 21 Apr. 2015: A3. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
Kahne, Joseph, and Ellen Middaugh. "Digital Media Shapes Youth Participation In Politics:
Social Media Are Changing How Youth Involve Themselves In Politics. Educators Also
Must Change How They Prepare Students To Be Involved Citizens." Phi Delta Kappan 3
(2012): 52. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
Niemer, Ellen. "Teenagers And SOCIAL MEDIA." Alive: Canada's Natural Health & Wellness
Magazine 359 (2012): 20-29. Alt HealthWatch. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
Porter, Tenelle J. "Moral And Political Identity And Civic Involvement In Adolescents." Journal
Of Moral Education 42.2 (2013): 239-255.Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
Collection. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
Velasquez, Alcides, and Robert LaRose. "Social Media For Social Change: Social Media
Political Efficacy And Activism In Student Activist Groups." Journal Of Broadcasting
&Electronic Media 59.3 (2015): 456-474. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Oct.
2015.
Zeglovits, Eva, and Martina Zandonella. "Political Interest Of Adolescents Before And After
Lowering The Voting Age: The Case Of Austria." Journal Of Youth Studies 16.8 (2013):
1084. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

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