Yes, the cause of young people not voting is because their friend on facebook aren't doing it. Or maybe there are no party / politicians that they can associate with (the vast majority being upper class twats)?
Hey kids! If you vote Facebook will give you EXTRA LIKES*
In an attempt to poke "da yoof" into voting, the Electoral Commission will run a registration campaign via Facebook tomorrow. Every person eligible to vote on Facebook in the UK will see a message in their newsfeed directing them to register online via the Gov.uk site. The body hopes it will prompt others to register, with …
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 17:24 GMT ThomH
I'm a little more optimistic than I've historically been — I wouldn't have believed in 2005 that 2010 would produce a coalition, and I wouldn't have believed in 2010 that in 2015 we'd be talking about four unambiguously major parties and five-party television debates. It's the sort of changing environment that could lead to a more diverse range of political voices. But we'll see.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 16:13 GMT Anonymous Coward
Well, I'm certainly not youthful, and I've voted in every single election since I was 18.
However, after watching the 'inside the commons' programme on the telly last night, I get the feeling I've been wasting my time. It came over as a bit of a joke. Particularly the costumes, and marching around. The clerk with the cool facial hair and obsurd clothes, signing documents in norman french, and then 'silly walking' them from one place to another was particulary daft. They should save the 'tradition' for the state opening, and be like a proper workplace the rest of the time.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 17:19 GMT Anonymous Coward
> Unless you live in a very marginal constituency and vote tactically, you have been
You're so right there. Currently (almost) wishing I lived in South Thanet so that I could vote for Al Murray. Please, please, please South Thanet-anes, vote him in - his would be one of the funniest maiden speeches ever.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 19:15 GMT adnim
I voted once when I was 18 purely for the novelty value.
I realised it only encourages them so I haven't voted since. Voting for politicians only makes them feel wanted and valued. Do you really want to do that?
What would make me real proud of the UK populace and give me hope for the future is no one voting at all at the next election.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 16:18 GMT JimmyPage
Our son is 18
and like most of his peers has absolutely no intention of voting. Because there's no one to vote for.
And really, despite it breaking my heart, his response to my urging is just this
"Voting, huh. What's that ever done for you ?"
and since he knows that I have never ever voted for a winning candidate in 20 years of voting, he really has a point. I voted against the Tories (well Tory candidate) in the 80s - we got Tories. I voted against nuLabour in 1997/2001/2005 - we got nuLab. I voted against Labour in 2010 and got a Labour MP.
He has a point :(
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Thursday 5th February 2015 16:10 GMT adnim
@Lamont... Re: Our son is 18
"another 5 years of the current shower"
Perhaps one can indicate a difference between the bought and the paid for?
Top tier politics is a club and regardless of party, one agrees and tows the party line or one is never heard of. Different party voted for.. same fucking result.
Need a naive icon
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 16:23 GMT Elmer Phud
How does it know?
"Every person eligible to vote on Facebook in the UK will see a message in their newsfeed directing them to register online via the Gov.uk site."
This should be interesting. I don't have an age or location set in FB, my email addy doesn't have .uk in it and, currently, the IP address that has been served up for me seems to locate to Ireland.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 16:45 GMT Anonymous Coward
The politicians are just following Obama's lead.
That "social networking" baloney worked so well for Obama now even your politicians want to follow suit. Half of the voters (Da Yoof) don't know how react unless someone else leads them down the primrose path. Oh and "Wastebook" is an American company too. Zuck must be gloating in his volcano, rubbing his hands in glee. (not to be confused with gee)
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 16:47 GMT Anonymous Coward
"...the real problem is trying to engage young people in the voting process"
I would hazard a guess and say that it isn't because they don't think it is important. Rather, it is because all they can see is corrupt, uncaring, lying, 'in it for all they can get' politicians.
If the politicians can clean up their acts and if the parties can clearly define their stances on the things that matter and stick to their principles, then maybe the young will start to give a shit.
Relying on Facebook Likes is pretty insulting.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 17:49 GMT Mark 85
Re: "...the real problem is trying to engage young people in the voting process"
What's the incentive for politicos to clean up their act? Not get elected because new voters will vote for someone else? Nope, the way is to turn people off from voting so that they continue to get elected by the "old school" voters.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 16:50 GMT Amorous Cowherder
I VOTE THEREFORE I MOAN!
People say , "Don't vote? Don't moan!".
That's complete and utter bollocks! If I vote for someone and they don't deliver then I have every bloody right to moan at whomever it was that failed to live up to their promises! If the person I voted for fails to get in, then I have a right to moan about the other canidate who did get in and still isn't doing what I want! Ha ha!
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Thursday 5th February 2015 08:33 GMT Pen-y-gors
Don't moan - Take it a step further
If you can't find someone you want to vote for, then do something about it. Stand yourself, or join a party and get involved in the candidate selection process. Do SOMETHING, not just sit on your arse all day playing video games, sending photos of your genitalia to yours friends on Snapchat, or pointless chatting to your mates on FB. That applies to people of all ages.
Imagine the effect on candidate selection if 500 young people suddenly joined a UKIP branch!
The Scottish Referendum showed that young people CAN be interested and take an active role in politics. Just chuck out the grey professional politicians with their rich chums, and get some passionate, caring people in Parliament instead.
Trust me, it works. Having twice been a Green Party candidate at general elections it's very satisfying to go out and vote for someone you know is really the best candidate and exactly represents your views.
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Thursday 5th February 2015 08:58 GMT JimmyPage
Re: Don't moan - Take it a step further
The problem is to stand in a general election required access to funds of £1,000 that you need to be prepared to wave goodbye to.
So it's "democracy" for those that have.
And of all the demographics, I suspect the one least likely to be able to spaff a grand will be 18-25 year olds.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 16:56 GMT Nigel Whitfield.
Behavioural targetting
Facebook's got form for manipulating feeds to see how it affects people's moves; some reports on this explain how they have tried things like different placements, or even hiding the "I'm voting" button in the past, to see how it affects response.
So, while I think anything that gets people to register is broadly a good thing, I think a clear an unambiguous statement that all people who are determined to be in the UK will receive the same notifications would be helpful.
Given the information that the company gathers about its users, it can quite easily determine which political things they may have liked, or engaged with, including those elsewhere. It would be entirely possible, and staggeringly inappropriate, if reminders to register, or to vote, were selectively shown to people.
You could imagine - I'm not suggesting they would do this, but it's technically possible - that a company in such a position might choose or be pressured to use this ability to show reminders more often to people who, say, have never clicked "Like" or shared stories about corporate tax issues, or various other policies.
So, yes, getting people to register (and to vote), a good idea in principle. But with some reservations.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 16:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
a, the "youth"
the same ones who will scream "oppression" if they are not allowed to spend over $100 a month on the newest trends which are the same crap from a couple years ago with different thread color, who get more upset about how their classmates see them and are more concerned with "fitting in" than finding anything resembling truth, and whose entire motivation for political action must come from a Presidentially sponsored woman who bathes in Froot Loops.
Sci Fi used to warn us of a future where comic books were required to get anything across because people were too stupid or apathetic to care. Officially that day is here.
The naive are easier to "use", and are more emotionally reactive without thinking. Perfect for the politicians of today.
Idiocracy was a documentary ahead of its time.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 17:09 GMT JimmyPage
Given this some thought ..
and am more intrigued by how on earth it is supposed to work.
First off, where did the data set "facebook users" and "UK unregistered voters" come from ? Surely an unregistered voter is - by definition - unregistered.
I wonder if this scheme wasn't actually proposed by Facebook as a free way to acquire lots of lovely data on their fading "target" demographic.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 20:19 GMT Trainee grumpy old ****
> It's a pity single transferable vote didn't get through.
The reason STV didn't get through was both Labour and the Conservatives pitched it as something the Lib Dems wanted and therefore it must be opposed. The referendum happened at about the height of the "bash the Yellows" phase of this parliament. If the next parliament is even more hung than the current one, then I suspect both parties may soon regret not having STV.
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Thursday 5th February 2015 09:05 GMT JimmyPage
Irony ...
It would be nice to imagine both Labour and Conservative high command roundly taking it in turns to kick each other .... it seems to me with the proliferation of Green/UKIP sentiments, STV might have actually helped the big two - particularly the conservatives. But, stuck with the system we have - and an electorate who knows exactly how it works, I suspect they will suffer. UKIP supporter know they have to vote UKIP to get UKIP, and their second choice doesn't count.
Boo fucking hoo.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 19:07 GMT Henry Wertz 1
Why?
I kind of feel like, why? If someone doesn't care enough to vote anyway, why should they be kind of cajoled into voting? They probably haven't thought over who they are going to vote for anyway.
Problem we have in the US, is the broken 2-party system; effectively, these parties are both centrist and act almost as a single party. Third party candidates are excluded from debates, polls ignore the existence of third parties (one poll call I got did not list a third party as a choice at all, and the other I got listed "other" then when I hit the number for "other" said "that is an invalid choice"), and the media uses the (invalid since they don't allow third-party choices) poll results to ignore the existence of third parties. The voter turnout here is low because voters are disenfranchised, I vote third party but a lot of voters just think "neither choice" is any good and don't vote at all.
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Wednesday 4th February 2015 23:57 GMT wx666z
NOTA options
Here in the US.A., NOTA will never be an option. Our two dinosaur parties will make sure of that. So a couple of suggestions; I've voted for the SWP and the Greens and felt good about it. Of course, neither won, but neither "major" party got my vote. The only exceptions were two votes for Pres. Obama, and I'm pretty sure those ended being " the lesser of two evils". Lesson Learned.....