IN the run-up to the US presidential elections, Facebook and ABC have teamed up to harness the potent young adult voting demographic. It has been reported that the new partnership will allow Facebook users to electronically follow ABC reporters, view reports and video, and take part in polls and debates.

The joint venture is clearly seen as leveraging on the power of Facebook as one of the most popular social networking sites, in particular among the young voters. Any message, political or otherwise, can be more effectively conveyed to this young, techno-logy-savvy audience.

Indeed, technology such as the Internet and its spin-offs is proving to be a real motivator for the youth to become more interested in politics, at least based on observation on developments in the United States.

In the ongoing presidential elections, the involvement of the youth has been overwhelming, as can be seen from the large turnout at campaign rallies. More of the younger people are involved in the campaign processes and giving their views on the candidates and their campaigns.

The strong crowd turnout, in particular the youth, is partly credited to popular trends such as social networking and text messaging, which have provided an avenue for this group of people to get more involved in one way or another. Projecting a tech-savvier campaign is indeed an effective means for candidates to win the admiration of the younger audience and get their all-important votes in the process.

With young voters spending much of their time online and social networking, it would be a folly for political parties in this information age to ignore media such as the Internet and mobile tools to get their message across. Such media is proving to be more interactive and peer-to-peer than traditional media, and young people respond to that better.