People Notice US!

    For years, young adults kept their distance from politics because they always felt like the presidential candidates didn't care about their issues. Their campaigns were mostly aimed at adults and the elderly, and the younger audience couldn't quite grasp the confusing political lingo. As a campaigning strategy, it made sense to focus on the elders, seeming that voters aged 18-25 did not offer much political support.

    However, this election engaged the attentions of young Americans aged 18-29. Twenty-three million Americans in this age group cast a vote. According to the Young Democrats of America (YDA), "Young voter turnout tripled or even quadrupled in many primary states." 

    Why is that? 
    YDA says young voters hit its peak in the 2004 election and has been increasing ever since. I personally thought that this piqued interest was due to social networking.

    Call me a little late, but I just found on the Seventeen magazine website a blog about the election for their readers.
    It is called Electionista Blog, and their writers informed  readers of election news. The blog can be found if you hover your mouse over the "College Life" tab on the menu banner. I know the election took place exactly a month ago from today, but I found the blog about a week ago.

    The writers haven't posted anything since Nov. 7, but looking through all of the posts, you can see how much of an effort they made to get their readers interested in voting. The blog aimed to teach their readers how the election affected women and students specifically. They succeeded in finding real stories from real people that wanted to voice why it is necessary to vote. 
    
    Their "about the blog" section reads: 

Politics can be confusing, overwhelming, and well, a little boring. That's where Electionista comes in! Our Electionista bloggers are here to give you the facts in a straight-forward language that's easy to understand. Keep checking back in to learn about the political front-runners, what they stand for, and what it means for you. You'll also find tons of ways to get involved because your voice matters. Even if you aren't old enough to vote, your voice can still be heard.

     Honestly, I would have never expected this from Seventeen, simply because they are so girly and celebrity-based that it did not make any sense. While reading through the posts that shed light on how each topic related to women and their readers' generations, I realized how remarkable this was. I am not a Seventeen reader. The only things I ever noticed in that magazine were articles about how to tell if a guy likes you and how to put on makeup so it looks like you're not wearing any makeup at all. To see this on their website, I find them to be more sophisticated than I used to. I also really dig how they used the blog to empower women and students all at the same time. 
   
    I kind of wish I had found this sooner so that I could have kept up with the election better. Also, I just finished co-creating a political magazine targeted at young readers. The mission statement read similar to what Seventeen had to say about their blog (without the sass), so I am extremely interested to see how much this blog had an influence on young female voters. Good job, Seventeen. Good job.