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Improving Web Outreach to Young Voters
A recent CIRCLE study by W. Lance Bennett and Mike Xenos
entitled "Young Voters and the Web of Politics 2004:
The Youth Political Web Sphere Comes of Age" updates
information provided in a similar study done in 2002.
Research by Lance Bennett and Michael Xenos
introduces a "network-analysis of nonpartisan youth
electoral engagement web sites." Their new working
paper examines the role and growth of websites during
the 2004 Presidential election. The authors find that
information on voter registration, events and on-site
election information have all increased since 2002. The
whole array of youth-oriented election websites has also
become better integrated.
For the new Bennett and Xenos Working Paper and key findings
and best practices (with screenshots) from their previous
work on youth voting websites, visit
this page.
Take an
online tour of the Key Findings & Best Practices from
2002
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News Web sites: Finding the Balance Between Fun and
Function
CIRCLE
Working Paper 29 News for a New Generation: Can it be
Fun and Functional? shows that one way to increase
youth interest in the news may be through a redesign of
news Web sites. The research utilized an experimental
design where subjects were assigned to view one of four
different news Websites: 1) a traditional site 2) a site
with a youthful design and traditional text 3) a site
with traditional design and youth-oriented text and 4)
a site with youthful design and youth-oriented text.
The researchers found that while young people preferred
the Web sites with the youthful design and youth-oriented
text, they actually learned more from the traditional
news Web sites. The researchers conclude that presenting
news using a modern, dynamic design format does make the
source more attractive to young audiences. However, these
types of features must be employed judiciously. Overloading
a TV program or Web sites with too many moving elements
or colorful features may not only distract consumers but
may also make the information seem trivial or unreliable.
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Increasing Youth Voting Through Interactive
Technology
One way to increase youth political participation and
interest in politics may be through interactive technology.
An exploratory study tested whether presenting campaign
information in an interactive, entertaining manner increases
youth political interest, efficacy, and participation.
To test this hypothesis the researchers conducted a randomized
experiment where students were divided into three groups-
two treatment groups and a control group. The first treatment
group received an "adult" version of a CD containing
extensive information about the 2002 California gubernatorial
election in an e-book format. The second treatment group
received a "youth" version of the CD with the
same information contained in the adult version but supplemented
with a variety of interactive games, contests and quizzes.
They found that young people who used the interactive,
youth version of the CD voted at a higher rate, showed
more interest in the campaign, and expressed greater faith
in the act of voting than young people who did not receive
the CD. The research was conducted by Stanto Iyengar and
Simon Jackman of Stanford University. The complete findings
can be found in CIRCLE Working Paper 24 Technology and
Politics: Incentives for Youth Participation.
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Reaching the Young News Consumer
This CIRCLE
Working Paper provides information about what kinds
of news are available for young people, why producers
create youth-oriented news the way they do, and what young
people say they really want in news. The researchers combined
textual analysis, interviews with youth news producers,
and focus groups with young people to examine whether
the products that are being created are responsive to
young people's interests and what possibilities exist
for increasing levels of news consumption among young
citizens.
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Youth as E-Citizens: An online youth civic culture
has taken root on the Internet, fostering Generation Y's
participation in U.S. politics and community affairs,
according to a report released by American University's
Center
for Social Media and funded by CIRCLE. The report
identifies and analyzes almost 400 websites, created for
and in some cases by young people that engage youth in
civic activities.
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CIRCLE commissions research and collects information
about the media that young people use to collect news.
We have made several grants on topics connected to young
people and the news media. Also see CIRCLE's Fact
Sheets:
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As background, the following trend (from
Higher
Education Research Institute and National Election
Study data) is interesting:
Interest In Public Affairs Is Down
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The CIRCLE Fact Sheet Media
Use Among Young People shows that around one quarter
of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25 use television,
radio, or newspapers to obtain news on a daily basis.
In contrast, fewer then one in ten young people use the
internet for news seven days a week.
Statistics featured include:
Newspaper Readership
has been Cut by More than Half
Young People are Less Likely to
Use the Web as a News Source, Compared to Older People
Radio is the Second Most Popular
News Source, After TV
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News Consumption After 9-11
According to this Pew
Research Center survey, "There are no signs in
the new polling that the news interests and habits of
young adults those under age 35 have been
transformed by Sept. 11, as some had expected. They continue
to register lower levels of news consumption than did
previous generations at a comparable stage in the life
cycle. .... Only one-quarter (26%) of those under age
30 report having read a newspaper yesterday. That is less
than half the number of those age 65 and over who report
reading a newspaper the previous day (59%). ... In general,
the decline in the amount of time people spend on the
news has been most notable among the young. Those under
age 25 spend roughly a half hour a day on the news, down
from 51 minutes eight years ago. And the proportion of
those in that age group who got no news from newspapers,
television or radio on the previous day more than doubled
from 14% in 1994 to 37% today. By comparison, people age
65 and older spend an average of 81 minutes on the news,
and only 12% got no news on the previous day."
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Young People & Online Campaigning
CIRCLE Fact Sheet Young
People and Political Campaigning provides a snapshot
of the types of online campaign techniques young people
use and which they say would make them more likely to
vote for a candidate. Based on data from the 2004
National Youth Survey sponsored by CIRCLE and the
Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the Council for
Excellence in Government, the Fact Sheet reports that
young people tend to prefer communications that they can
choose to receive rather than ones that are sent to them
unsolicited. In general, the Internet does not seem to
pull many otherwise disengaged youth into politics. However,
it does seem to hold some promise for mobilizing partisan,
ideological, and engaged young people. In particular,
the most effective online campaign techniques were chat
rooms, e-mails on issues, "blogs" geared to
youth, and candidate events like those organized by Meetup.com.
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