Six out of 10 Twitter users will actively engage with the government to raise critical issues affecting them and the community. This is far higher than the 29.30% of the surveyed youth who were not on the platform, reveals the latest research findings of Twitter India’s youth engagement project, #PowerOf18.
Kicking off just two months ahead of Lok Sabha elections, the survey also revealed another interesting finding: A high 96.50% of Karnataka youth on Twitter will vote this time. Sixty-one per cent of them were convinced that they were contributing to the public debate by tweeting.
More than half (51.70%) of the youth surveyed in the State use Twitter to express their opinions and be heard, and the same percentage will use Twitter to gather support for a cause or movement.
Over 80% of Karnataka’s youth surveyed will turn to social media to find out what is happening in India and around the world, according to the study’s findings. This only reinforced the rising importance of social media for information consumption.
The study was part of a larger nationwide survey conducted with 4,274 youth respondents from India between September 24 and October 19, 2018. The survey methodology qualified the respondents as minimally secondary literate, aged between 18-35 years old.
By 2020, the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has projected that the share of youth (15 to 34 years old) will be 34.33% of the country’s total population.
Twitter India says its #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.”
The campaign launch is marked by an emoji activated by the hashtag #PowerOf18 available till June 2019.
Those interested could follow #PowerOf18 to be part of the conversation and community, says the social media platform.