Social media has been the ultimate water cooler over a long campaign season, and the destination for sharing, discussing and complaining about the latest headlines.
Today, election day Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Snapchat , and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) will play an even larger role as Americans watch the election results play out on their smartphones. This year more than ever, the leading three social apps are pulling out all the stops to show on this high-tension say that they're the place to find and share news. It's competition for mindshare, and valuable ad dollars now and down the line.
Nearly a quarter of American adults said they'd turned to social media posts of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton for news and information about the election, according to a July study by the Pew Research Center. That number compares to 15 percent who said they got information from the candidates' websites or emails. And the number who learned about the candidates via social media has certainly grown in the past four months.
"The conversation about the election is happening on Facebook — it's really become the new town hall," says Facebook's global politics and outreach director Katie Harbath. "And the campaigns seeing the greatest success on the platform are those that are really taking advantage of that by reaching out and having an actual, two-way dialogue with voters."
Facebook says it's seen political advertisers in competitive TV marketers shift their ad spending to Facebook due to a lack of remaining TV inventory and Facebook's targeting capability. And this campaign is unusual in that with the presidential race so competitive in the 11th hour, political advertisers have been running fundraising ads until the very last minute.
As an example of the social platform's advantage relative to traditional political TV ads, Facebook cites New Hampshire , where there's increased spending on the presidential battleground as well as a competitive Senate race. Most of the state is in the Boston TV market, but buying those TV spots is inefficient because those races targeting New Hampshire viewers are competing for ad time with Massachusetts political contests.
In addition to running targeted political ads, Facebook is offering a range of tools to help its users navigate election day. A landing page offers directions to users' polling places, suggests they invite friends to plan to head to the polls together, offering voting requirements and a preview of your ballot.
Snapchat is similarly embracing the election, with a "Go Vote" bitmoji and a new geofilter to remind people to vote. Snapchat's particularly focused on incorporating election day news: Offering a dynamic election results filter through a feed supplied by The Associated Press, similar to dynamic results geofilters used during the primaries and caucuses that were seen by more than 100 million users. In Live Stories, Snapchat will feature election results, acceptance and concession speeches, and the like. And of course there will be election-related geofilters for users to use and share with friends.