Inside Elizabeth Warren's Selfie Strategy
In late March, Jocelyn Roof, a sophomore at the University of Iowa, picked up a call from an unknown number and heard Senator Elizabeth Warrens voice on the other end of the line. Warren asked her what got her in this fightRoof said she was very concerned about income inequalityand thanked Roof for her $25 donation.
As soon as she got off the phone, Roof took a selfie of her shocked face. She posted it to Snapchat with the caption MY WHOLE LIFE WAS MADE, then screenshotted it and posted it to Twitter. Warren retweeted the selfie, with the comment Im so glad we got to talk!
Before the call, Roof said she was undecided about who she would support in the Iowa caucuses. Afterwards, her enthusiasm for Warren skyrocketed, she says. I couldnt imagine voting for anyone else. She started donating $5 to the campaign every month and buying snacks for volunteers at field offices. In the first three weeks of September, she registered more than 1,000 new voters on her University of Iowa campus, independent of the Warren campaign.
...Candidates snapping selfies with voters is not new. But Warren has elevated an old shtick into the centerpiece of her digital strategy. The Warren selfies are designed to be widely shared, and are particularly popular among younger voters who live most of their lives on social media. In interviews with supporters who waited in line to take selfies with Warren in Iowa on Thursday and Friday, most said they planned to post it on Instagram or Facebook, and a TIME review of their social media accounts suggests that they usually posted the photo almost immediately, where it quickly gained likes and comments.
...The selfie line also allows Warren a simple vehicle for hearing from voters. Each selfie takes roughly thirty seconds, just enough time for each supporter to deliver the Senator a quick message, but not enough time to get into a conversation. The selfie line creates the space for listening to peoples stories, says Senator Zach Wahl, a 28-year old Iowa State Senator who introduced Warren at her speech on Friday. Iowas a relational state. It might go a little farther here than elsewhere.
More at
https://time.com/5683099/elizabeth-warren-selfies/