by Dennis Fischman

 

People who aren’t registered don’t vote. But according to the national voter registration organization Field Team 6, 86% of young people who register as Democrats go on to cast ballots.

 

How can you help increase the number of registered young voters? Sign up for training with Field Team 6, a five-year-old organization with the motto Register Democrats. Save the World.

 

Work from home, on your computer or phone, posting social media content provided by Field Team 6. Take part in a “social storm”: a day when lots of other Democrats and progressives are posting (and liking, commenting, and sharing one another’s social media posts), for maximum visibility.

 

If you are a novice to social media, no problem. Sign up here for either basic or advanced training from Field Team 6 on how to use Twitter/X, Instagram, or Threads (an online social media and social networking service operated by MetaPlatforms) to get the word out and bring voters in. Field Team 6’s trainers are commonsense people who speak your language. They’ve just been reaching out to voters via social media a little bit longer…

 

I can speak from experience because I took the Basic Threads course. I had already set up a Threads account, but if you haven’t, no problem: they’ll walk you through how to do it.

 

Training includes useful tips such as the following:

 

1.   Use the Home screen to see what other progressive activists post (it’s like the feed on Twitter or Facebook)

 

2.   Like or comment on relevant posts. Even better, “quote repost” them. That means hitting the arrows going in a circle, and then choosing “Quote,” so you can add your own thoughts to the original post—even just a thumbs up or emoji! Quote reposting helps posts from other progressives reach a wider audience.

 

3.   To find posts specifically about voter registration efforts, search using the hashtag #voterizer. (Voterizer is Field Team 6’s voter registration app, which you can brand and customize for your own organization.)

 

4.   When other people like, comment, or share your posts, or follow you on Threads, you will see a little red dot under the heart symbol. Field Team 6 strongly suggests you vet the people who follow you before following them back! Check out their bios and whether (and what) they have posted recently (you don’t want to encourage the opposition by mistake!).

 

5.   “How will I come up with something to say?” you ask. You can find ready-made content at Field Team 6’s page for Social Storming. (If you choose to post on Threads, choose “Instagram” content, which is easy to adapt for the Threads platform):

 

o  Click on “Download and Copy”

 

o  Go to Threads and choose “Write a New Message”

 

o  Click on “Attach media.” It should open the folder where your downloaded content has been stored. Open the downloaded content file.

 

o  Paste the text from your clipboard

 

If any of that sounds unclear, do take the training. Field Team 6 trainers will walk you through it, step by step. When you’ve finished the class, you’ll know exactly how to post the ready-made content yourself, from either your phone or your computer.

 

Register for ongoing trainings on Threads and other social media platforms here!