Latest #PowerOf18 research on first time eligible voters

Twitter is about serving the public conversation, highlighting what’s happening in the world and enabling people to talk about it right now. As part of its youth engagement initiative #PowerOf18, Twitter India unveils new research findings today specific to first time eligible voters in India, aged 18 - 22 years old, on social media and the elections.

Twitter is where people can serve the public conversation; 7 in 10 (72%) of first time eligible voters on Twitter in India surveyed believe that they are contributing to the public debate by posting on the platform. 54.6% surveyed will use Twitter to gather support for a cause or movement, and 54.4% of first time eligible voters will use the platform to express their opinion to be heard. In addition, nearly half (45.9%) of first time eligible voters on Twitter surveyed will actively engage with and raise concerns to the government on issues that affect them or their community, versus 36.4% of those not on the platform.

Across the board, the population in India is politically active and the survey finds on average over 90% of first time eligible voters indicating that they would vote in the upcoming elections. In comparison, Twitter users (96.6%) surveyed were more likely to vote in the upcoming elections versus those who are not on the platform (91.2%).

The rising importance of social media is reinforced as over 80% of first time eligible voters in India surveyed will turn to social media to find out what’s happening in India and around the world, according to the study’s findings. First time eligible voters on Twitter also rank social media platforms as the most important source for understanding what’s happening in India and around the world, compared to all other mediums. For those who are not on Twitter, social media platforms came in as the second most important source, behind newspapers.

The study is part of a larger nationwide survey conducted with 4,274 youth respondents from India between 24 September - 19 October 2018. The survey methodology qualifies the youth respondents as minimally secondary literate, aged between 18 - 35 years old. The survey qualifies first-time eligible voters as those aged between 18 - 22 years old during the time of the survey, taking into consideration that they would not have participated in the 2014 election.

The objective of the #PowerOf18 campaign is aimed at encouraging more youth in India to participate in civic engagement, understand the significance of their right to vote and contribute to public debate on Twitter.

Follow #PowerOf18 and @TwitterIndia to be a part of the conversation and community.