REPORT – YOUTH AND POLITICS (3) – “Likes” are not enough

The young are interested in politics, but social networks don’t get them truly involved. One must go offline and meet others in the flesh.

Valerio Riavez collaborates with the French company Liegey Muller Pons (LMP), which provides technological consultancy services related to electoral strategiesfor parties and political candidates. Born in Rome 33 years ago, Riavez has a professional background in the finance sector having worked for Mediobanca and the Blackrock investment fund, before specialising in modern electoral campaign techniques at Harvard University and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)in Boston. In 2016 LMP started to manage Emmanuel Macron’s presidential campaign by supporting the launch of his movement En Marche!. A collaboration that continues to this day during the run up to the European elections scheduled to take place in May next year. Currently Riavez handles the company’s international sector, applying the same winning strategies used to elect Macron to other campaigns.

The presidential campaign of the current French Head of State featured extensive online communication, based on a very specific strategy that focused on building a direct relationship with potential voters. The merely technical aspects involving data analysiswere constantly by the human one, which as Riavez explains “helped to instil more than just a utilitarian interest in the voter”. A tactic very much in line with the one promoted by Obama in 2008. In this context, the young militants of En Marche! exploited the potential of the web as the starting point for a thorough and highly targeted campaign on the ground. An example of how politics can respond to the needs of the new generations without necessarily going down the digital route.

Having worked on a number of different electoral campaigns around the world, Riavez has had the opportunity to come into contact with young men and women only a little younger than himself. A series of political experiences that have enabled him to develop an overall vision of the relationship between youth and politics.

What role did internet play in Macron’s political communication during the journey that led him to become French president?

VR The web was undoubtedly an essential element of Emmanuel Macron’s electoral campaign. However, besides investing in Internet communication, En Marche! decided to focus on the human element, by recruiting volunteers to pass on his message. When it was first born, the movement of the then candidate Macron only numbered a few hundred people and had to expand its base if it was to reach the ear of the whole of France. With this in mind, the network was the tool used to launch a “call to arms” that enabled 6,000 volunteers to be rallied together and trained. Most of them were very young. After this first stage we launched a listening campaign, where the militants engaged in a series of door to door operations as a way of coming into direct touch with the electorate.

So the potential voter became a militant.

VR When you rely on a form of communication based on 280 characters like Twitter or videos posted on Facebook and Instagram, you’re working with a certain range of emotions. The model we have adopted for Macron’s electoral campaign is based on a method codified by Marshall Ganz, Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing and Civil Society at Harvard University with whom I had the priviledge to study. Ganz started working on community organising in the Sixties with Martin Luther King and in 2008 he handled the activities on the ground for Barack Obama’s candidacy to the White House. The aim was to create a real bond with the young who offered to help us at En Marche!, ensuring that they were fully involved and lending great importance to their activities. Rather than investing exclusively on targeted communication via Facebook, we decided to exploit the human capital of the new generations. Naturally we are talking about a structured organisation which requires a huge effort in logistical terms. It’s not just a matter of clicking on a website, one has to set up a network of contacts and organise the work of hundreds of people.

What other factors were involved to support this human element?

VR There’s was part that related to data analysis. This helped to identify where our potential voters might be found. We only use information in the public domain to inform the parties and candidates we work with where their potential voters can be found in the highest concentrations. Then there’s a third element, which is represented by the “50+1” platform, used to direct the volunteers on the ground and pinpoint the most important areas for them to work on.

So internet would seem have been relegated into a secondary role in En Marche’s political communication.

VR A number of studies carried out in countries like the United States, France and Italy have largely shown that the best way to convince a potential voter is through a one on one discussion. In this way one can go and speak directly to those people who are interested and have a greater chance of convincing them. But more importantly, this method, as was the case for En March!, makes it easy to involve young people who wish to enter the political arena and put them at the centre of the electoral campaign. Internet was used as a tool by Macron while he was a candidate.For example we used the Internet to broadcast a number of training videos for militants during the first stage of his campaign. I wouldn’t want to set out a pecking order of the most important activities that needed to be performed, but I think it’s important to stress that all elements of the plan had to work together.

So an online campaign is not sufficient?

VR It depends what you mean to communicate. On the web politics is tending to veer towards increasingly simplified messages, that are supposed to arouse emotions and not thoughts. Often one seeks immediate satisfaction with powerful sentences such as “Let’s build a wall!” or “Punish the establishment!”. But if you want to create an organic way of thinking one has to act in a concerted fashion. A modern electoral campaign must include all the available instruments and use them in a complementary way within the same ecosystem.

What role did the young perform within the context of this strategy?

VR A crucial one. Thanks to their understanding of the web, the young people, both men and women, who took part in the campaign acted as the perfect electoral loud hailer, especially on social networks, by sharing posts, selfies and videos taken on the ground during the various activities. A dynamic that enabled a broad and effective dissemination of the information. If involved and duly supported, the resources engaged in a campaign can increase the communication dynamic. The young, in this case, were a very effective flywheel.

You’ve applied this method in other electoral campaigns around the world. What kind of feedback have you had from the young people you’ve met in these instances?

VR I’d say very positive. Unlike what one might think, the young are keen on getting actively involved in politics. During the electoral campaigns I’ve taken part in abroad I’ve met many who’ve described their frustration at not managing to find the right space to express themselves freely. By providing them with the necessary tools, we’ve also given them the opportunity to create small communities, even outside their political activism. You always raise the quality levels when you manage to get people involved.

Can Internet alone provide an alternative for this desire to take part in these processes?

VR All too often parties have a hierarchical structure that leaves very little room for debate. For the young, Internet provides a real mouthpiece through which they can freely exercise their political activism through discussions in forums and within the social media. Nevertheless, in order to have a real impact one has to log off and get seriously involved on the ground.

So social networks can fail to fuel political engagement?

VR Today, social relations, especially among the younger generations, are increasingly fragmented. Relationships are superficial and there’s a lack of true human interaction. Platforms such as Facebook or Twitter have contributed to create this situation, by hindering dialogic relationships. This is an international phenomenon: I’ve never worked on a campaign in which information was handled in any way differently to how it is in Europe. Young people were provided with a stage where they could express themselves, without necessarily having an audience ready to listen. It’s up to politics to provide real alternative to this situation.

A sort of relief valve. But how do candidates relate to this online participation?

VR The web must remain one tool within a whole range of tools available to an electoral campaign. If one’s political activity is restricted to Facebook or Twitter it’s unlikely it will have any kind of lasting impact. The new technologies can make it easier for people to communicate providing it is backed by a concrete action on the ground.

How does the web influence young people’s political choices?

VR Compared to previous generation, the current one is clearly less politically loyal. When compared to that of twenty or thirty years ago, the political landscape has changed, as have parties and how information gets used. The young are more prepared to change their preference depending on the candidate and what they have to offer and the web provides you with a shop window through which people can access information and thus make a reasoned chioce.

As in the United States, even the French presidential elections were marred by the fake news phenomenon, especially against Macron. How did the young react to this factor?

VR My personal experience tells me that this is mainly a problem that concerns people in higher age brackets, sayfrom forty upwards. These are people who are used to reading news in print, and consider all the information they receive as believable. The so called digital natives, on the other hand, are more aware of fake news because they have the necessary tools to identify them. In this field the young can perform a very active role in preventing the phenomenon.

How can they do that?

VR Through the kind of educational activities they can perform within their circle of acquaintances, like their families or their close friends. That’s why young people must be at the centre of all political action. Having a son or daughter who comes home and describes an experience during an electoral campaign or explains certain political concepts, can have a multiplier effect that helps to contain the spread of fake news.

To sum up, what are the challenges that politics has to face if it is to win over its electorate, and particularly the young vote?

VR There’s a need to get offline, to engage in real meetings. Door to door campaigns were carried out in Italy up until the Eighties, but then other strategies took over. The new technologies must make the work easier, not try and do away with it altogether.

The web has become a mirror for participation in the political debate for the new generations, which, unlike what has often been stated, show a particular interest in social and institutional issues. The yearning for involvement that can be found in the virtual arena must however go beyond the “likes” and the “shares” in order to take hold. Internet is not the only yardstick by which one can get to know what the young feel about politics. At this historic juncture it’s important to grab their attention through an inclusive process, that manages to provide new tools in an increasingly diverse panorama. Politics must fill these spaces, containing dispersive tendencies by providing a clear and well-organised response. Only in this way will it be possible to provide the appropriate space to all categories, and especially those who are facing the prospect of casting a vote for the first time.

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