Pew Research Center recently released a study finding that minorities are increasingly outnumbering whites in their use of certain social media platforms.
The study entitled, “The Demographics of Social Media Users — 2012”, shows that in general, Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to use social media sites than whites (percentage wise)and almost twice as likely to use twitter & Instagram.
Social Networking Sites
% of internet users who use social networking sites
Use Social Networking Sites All internet users (n=1,802) 67%
Race/ethnicity
a White, Non-Hispanic (n=1,332) 65%
b Black, Non-Hispanic (n=178) 68%
c Hispanic (n=154) 72%
The study goes on to make a point that Urban users are using all social media channels more than suburban or rural users.
Guess what? Republicans can do better among all minorities and Urban dwelling voters.
This study makes no mention of HOW minorities or anyone for that matter are using social media to interact with politics; however, the high use alone should be a further wake up call for changing Republicans’ political outreach strategy.
If Republicans are to get serious about minority outreach, as a Party we must study and understand how these new social media channels can assist us in the effort because it would appear the digital divide exists more in Republicans’ mindset than in actuality.
