#IVoted Reflects Americans' Love For Country

For loyal members of the Twitterverse, there is no better way to show love for country than to declare having exercised the right to vote online. The hashtag #IVoted trended on Twitter after thousands of online users immediately shared that they voted for either Barack Obama (@BarackObama) or Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) on the 2012 US national elections. According to a study by Pew Research Center, about 25 percent of the Democratic Party supporters shared that they voted from Obama, while about 20 percent of Republican Party supporters shared that they preferred Romney. Others also indicated their intentions to vote but were not specific about their choices. The social network buzz was created to spur others to vote and increase the turnout in the American presidential poll. Over 30 percent of the people who voted so far were inspired by posts on social media websites. About 20 percent of these users were also actively encouraging others to also vote for their preferred candidate. Here's the activity on #IVoted on November 6 at 4:00PM. A number of celebrities also joined by tweeting that they recently votedm with a picture of the ?I Voted? badge. [As of this writing, it is clear that Obama had won another four years as president of the United States, so we'll throw in some #IVoted tweets celebrating this victory.] Even comedian Will Ferrell launched a campaign saying he would "do anything" to get people to vote. Other social media networks and applications were also used to spread the word on the need to vote. Google aided online users in locating the nearest polling station through Doodle.

Picswitch specifically lets online users adjust their profile pictures on Twitter to let others know that they were voting for Obama. Foursquare was also used by other social network fans to indicate the specific area where they are to cast their ballot. Instagram was also constantly posting photos of people casting their ballots and their respective ballot papers, although taking photos of the ballot papers is not allowed in some states. Facebook was also actively encouraging others to vote by providing an ?I?m a voter? button. In a research done, 1011 adults were asked if they shared who they voted for or intend to vote for using social networks with 22 percent answering in the affirmative. Over the past months, social networks have been frequently used by voters to discuss and share their political views. Now that the 2012 elections has come to a close, it's time we applaud ourselves for having exercised our right to decide who will be working for us in the next four years.