The photo and video sharing service is targeting D.C. politicians to upload more content to its platform, but will the response be as enthusiastic as it was for Twitter?
Instagram recently put out a job posting for a ‘political outreach manager’ in D.C. The job description calls for someone to “manage and execute relationships with governments, politicians and political influencers on how to best use Instagram.”
It continues:
“This role will serve as one of Facebook’s liaisons working with political public figures and their teams, focusing on connecting influencers to the global community in innovative ways.”
Put simply, Instagram (and eventually Facebook) wants more politicians to use its platform, and it’s stepping up its efforts to convince them.
It makes sense to target politicians, they’re lightning rods for controversy and with their outspoken views and personal agendas, they have plenty of content to provide. With the country already so fired up about political ideologies, you can bet they’ll be a surefire way to drive eyeballs through the social media platform.
Politicians have already enthusiastically embraced Twitter as their social medium of choice, (some may have embraced it a bit too enthusiastically…ahem…Anthony Weiner) There’s no reason to think they won’t welcome yet another avenue for broadcasting their views and shameless self promotion. Brands and Hollywood movies have already started using Instagram and Vine for viral marketing gimmicks and it isn’t difficult to imagine politicians doing the same for their campaigns.
However, don’t expect a large scale adoption of the platform just yet.
While politicians may love the chance to look down to earth and approachable using Instagram to upload candid (but carefully edited) pictures of themselves or their family, it won’t have the same real-time response element of putting out a quick word on Twitter. 140-character statements are quick, effective and easy to edit instead of a picture with an obvious motive. Plus, with their average age close to over 50, its hard to imagine senators or members of congress becoming too convinced of another photo sharing service when they’ve probably just got around to using it on Facebook. So don’t expect Harry Reid or Mitch McConnell to be posting sepia-toned pictures of themselves in a park any time soon.
Even though, some of the younger, more media savvy politicians such as New Jersey governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker are using Instagram, the numbers are still well below what both of them draw on Twitter. At its core, Instagram’s demographic is still young and hip, compared to Twitter’s slightly more adult and more news-centric audience. The platform doesn’t quite have a large demographic that’ll follow politics very enthusiastically. While politicians will eventually get smarter and more creative about using Instagram, expect it to be a slow (and very awkward) adoption.
