Over the past couple of years, Snapchat has been trying to get its young user base more involved in the political process, through voting awareness stickers, polling location tracking, voter registration pushes, Discover programming, and more.

And now, Snap's looking to take the next step in civic engagement – prompting its users to actually become politicians, and directly influence political shifts. As explained by Snap:

"Our new Run for Office Mini is designed to help Snapchatters engage with democracy in a truly easy, native-to-mobile way. Powered with information from BallotReady, this simple tool will help Snapchatters explore hundreds of opportunities to run for local office based on the issues they care most about—from City Neighborhood Board and Township Council to School Board and State Representative."

As shown in the screenshots above, the 'Run for Office' mini presents a variety of important information about local political offices, as well as explainers for how individuals should go about self-nominating to participate in relevant local ballots and offices.
The mini will also be including information on filing deadlines and signatures required, while providing contact information for local election offices.

"In addition, Snapchatters will be able to share stickers from this portal to start campaigning on Snapchat with their closest friends."

Which matters, since Snap reports:

"Snapchatters say that friends were more than five times more influential in their decision to vote in the 2020 election vs. influencers and celebrities."

It is an interesting push from Snap that could help boost civic participation at a key time: political movements gaining more focus and momentum and people of all ages now having more options for engaging with the issues of most relevance to them.

Currently, US politics, in particular, is dominated by older representatives, with only 6% of US state legislators being under the age of 35. Which makes some sense – politics, ideally, should involve some level of life experience. Again, however, at the same time you also require younger generations' input to be given so that most equitable, more beneficial outcomes are met, as well as all people having a voice and having a platform for their say to be heard on all levels of government.

Snapchat is already driving political change, with research showing that Snap directly inspired hundreds of thousands of people to vote in 2020. And with reach to some 90% of the U.S. age 13-24 market, it certainly has the potential to escalate and enhance that effort.

At least, the youth is more active and involved than ever to have a say about it, and may be this shall give a clearer pathway as to how the next generation of leaders can take the political stage.
Snapchatters in the United States can play the new 'Run for Office' mini by opening Snapchat, swiping down on the camera screen to access Snap's in-app games, where the mini will appear, or you can search 'Run for Office' within Snapchat.