When Vice President Kamala Harris quoted her mother during a swearing-in ceremony in 2023, rhetorically asking the audience, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” no one expected the moment to become a cultural phenomenon. Harris was simply sharing a line her mother would use to lecture her and her sister when they complained. Yet, a coconut tree is now an almost ubiquitous symbol for her presidential campaign. Political activity on social media is accomplishing a great feat that politicians have been aspiring to for decades — capturing the notice of young voters and young people who will grow up more knowledgeable about the government and be ready to vote when the time comes. It’s impressive how much positive political change a meme can make.

78.1% of students with social media said they have seen Kamala Harris Coconut Tree or “Brat” memes online, according to a survey conducted by The Muse. Harris’ social media campaign embraced the already growing “‘Brat’ summer” trend on social media, inspired by EDM and pop star Charli XCX’s album “Brat,” which features the contrasting themes of womanhood, insecurity, competition, and partying. To have a Brat summer, a person must “embrace being earnest and unapologetically themselves” (NBC News). Charli XCX made a post on X (formerly Twitter) stating “kamala IS brat,” encouraging her supporters to endorse Harris, and in the process, giving the Coconut Tree and “Brat” memes fuel. 

Politicians and activists are aware that interest from young voters may be key to protecting the future of our democracy. Since most of Generation Z (Gen Z), specifically a microgeneration of people born from 2000-2010, is on social media, these posts are more effective in reaching us than past advertising techniques like using traditional advertisements on television. This political activity on social media inspires curiosity, leading to a more informed generation of both eligible and non-eligible voters.

In the 2016 presidential election, only 46% of eligible young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 turned out to vote. Millions of potential votes were lost. For the 2024 election, both presidential candidates are vying to capture the attention (and the votes) of the younger generation through social media. The way they see it, every young and eligible voter who likes a post promoting their campaign is a vote that might sway the outcome of the election. 

The key shift in advertising towards our generation was not simply using social media — but the type of post. According to a survey conducted by The Muse, 97.5% of students with social media have seen political posts on sites like TikTok and Instagram, with 94.7% of students saying some of these posts were memes and 89.6% saying some were edits. This change is impactful because by catering to our generation’s sense of humor, politicians and advocates are succeeding in capturing our attention. We care about politics now more than ever because it is presented to us in a way we understand and in a format that allows us to do our own research and form individual opinions. Social media posts with complex political language that we won’t care to decode are — for the most part — a thing of the past. 

In one Tiktok video posted by @realdonaldtrump, the caption “Young People Make America Great” accompanies a video of former President Donald Trump with YouTuber Jake Paul, who has over 20 million subscribers. In the video, they describe Vice President Harris as “not the brightest bulb in the ceiling.” The video has 12.9 million views as of Sept. 22, 2024. A TikTok posted by @kamalahq, Harris’ official campaign account, mocks Trump’s Presidential Debate performance by comparing him to a clip of Abby Lee Miller from the reality TV series “Dance Moms.” The caption is simply “L,” a slang term for a loss used frequently by teenagers. This clip received 8.5 million views. These posts, regardless of political affiliation, are being curated by people our age and posted as though created by the candidate, clearly targeting our generation. It’s working.

92.5% of students believe that political posts on social media from both parties will lead to a major or moderate increase on the number of younger voters in this presidential election, according to a survey by The Muse. However, only 35% of students with social media said they follow politicians or political influencers online. It is not just the candidates themselves bringing politics to social media. 

A singular Instagram story by Taylor Swift posted on Sept. 10, 2024, encouraging her 284 million followers to register to vote and providing a link to the official voter registration site, led to a 500% increase in registration the following day. CNN reported that more than 400,000 people visited vote.org via Swift’s link in the 24 hours following the story being posted.  An Instagram post accompanying the story also confirmed Swift’s endorsement of Harris. Swift referenced a comment by Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance that Harris is a “childless cat lady” by signing the post, “with love and hope, Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.” 

Swift came into the picture earlier when Trump shared an AI-generated post on his social media platform Truth Social that read, “Taylor Swift wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” Swift addressed these fake images in her post, writing, “It really conjured up my fears around AI and the dangers of spreading misinformation.” Swift’s concern is valid — when social media is misused with political motivations, it can be dangerous. However, social media is also being used to fact-check politicians. USA Today’s TikTok account posted a video explaining why claims both former President Trump and Vice President Harris made at the Presidential Debate were either true, false, or misleading. When social media is used properly like in this instance, it reinforces the idea that this increase in politics online is productive.

A generation that has been historically less active in politics is interacting with it like never before online, and that’s good. It begs the question, are these posts just entertaining us or also informing us? Is that TikTok where Harris’ campaign makes fun of Trump’s Presidential Debate performance going to lead its audience to actually watch the debate and learn about both candidates’ policies? Will Trump’s TikTok where he expresses how he “loves the young people” lead to young voters looking into Trump’s policies that affect them? The answer: it depends. 

Although political memes and posts on social media have a net positive effect on the amount of interaction between us and politics online, they can be far more powerful depending on what you make of them. If you view an Instagram post about a political issue like Project 2025 or Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz’s misleading comment on his military history but don’t look into the topic further, then the post is ineffective. Some politicians make it easy for you, like Representative Jeff Jackson of North Carolina, who has amassed a following of 2.2 million followers by making videos breaking down confusing or current political happenings. In other cases, it requires more work on your part.

One Google search to learn more about something political you see on social media can make you more informed and capable of discussing politics with others. It makes our democracy stronger. We’ve started to break the stereotype of our generation being “less informed” and “less involved” by posting more about politics online. It’s time to set a new precedent — one where we can learn while we click the like button.