Democracy Depends on Tik Tok

Democrats need to get hip with the current information age.

The American media ecosystem is currently changing. A whopping 86% of U.S. adults say at least some of the time they get their news from a smartphone, computer or tablet and 54% of U.S. adults say they sometimes or often get their news from social media. There is an ascendency of new platforms and ways that people are receiving information about politics. They are social and digital media spaces. As these spaces continue to sprout and grow, so too does their influence on our elections.

Just as Facebook became infamous for its role in the 2016 election, TikTok and Instagram became increasing players in the information space during the 2024 election, particularly with younger people. Long form podcasting and YouTube also showed itself to have a particular influence with certain demographics in 2024. By 2028, it may be something totally new. This begs one major problem for Democrats— they haven’t learned how to drive a narrative in the current media ecosystem. There is a lack of effective communication strategy for our digital age. This does not bode well for an opposition party that is fighting for everything we believe in. It bodes even less well considering the rapid pace and evolution of these mediums. No doubt some Democrats are still learning how to Vine.

The old model of mainstream newspapers and cable news channels still have relevance but are increasingly having to share their influence. One of the failures of President Joe Biden’s administration was arguably not the inability to achieve good policy – in fact, I think his industrial policy holds the success for future Democratic presidential candidates – but the inability to communicate these policies to the public. As such, the vacuum was filled by largely right-wing and right-wing aligned forces spewing disinformation and vicious misinformation about President Biden’s policies, family, and pretty much everything else you can think of. There was no consistently effective counterweight defending and informing the public about the significant Democratic successes in spaces beyond the traditional mainstream media. Even when there were efforts, like inviting influencers to the White House, it just simply didn’t hit in the way we needed it to. We have paid the price dearly for this inability to communicate in new ways. The constructed reality crafted by Tik Tok and podcasters fueled many Americans’ perception of reality. Much of this was to our detriment. The takeaway: good policy with no message is no policy in our current world.

A communications strategy that rests on understanding the new mediums and how they work must be among the top issues for Democrats heading into the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election. Trump and his Big Fucking Ugly Bill, which is slated to be one of the single greatest transfers of wealth from the bottom to the top ever, could not have given Democrats a better platform and contrast to run on. But Democrats have to break through with this message. The diffuse nature of our communications ecosystems means that people are receiving a lot of information from varying places all at once. There are pockets where people tend to congregate more than others like certain social media platforms, podcasts, twitch, Reddit threads, etc., but there are also innumerable spaces that are continually left untapped. Creativity is key here. Whatever you think about him, Zohran Mamdani talking with Halal Food Trucks about inflation (dubbed “Halalflation”) is the exact type of outside the box thinking we need and simultaneously does a damn good job of driving home his central message about the affordability crisis. This is not just about catering to the hyper online youths living in NYC, but incorporating an effective digital strategy into an overall messaging strategy.

Digital spaces and platforms are the places we need to have an effective game plan for driving content because it means our message gets seen by many eyes. The algorithms that direct content on these forums identify which content is being interacted with and amplifies this to people who are likely to engage with this content, either positively or negatively. Content that is designed to get us angry, make us laugh, entertain us, or invoke some emotional response increases the likelihood the algorithm will feed the content to a larger number of people that are going to react or engage with the content. Thus, the multiplier effect.

One of the primary lessons that this era has taught us is that controversy, above all, is “good” content. This helps to explain why Trump has managed to be an effective politician during over the last 10 years – his ability to grab the attention of the traditional and nontraditional media has proven core to his staying power. Whenever he says or does something that is designed to provoke an emotional response, so quickly does he conjure up intense feelings of support or disdain. However, both reactions ensure that Trump largely remains a steady presence in our lives. And that has a certain political capital now. Trump’s communication savvy does not completely account for his rise, nor is all attention good for Trump. His more boorish and downright immoral behavior that goes viral tends to remind people why they hate or held their nose for him in the first place. But his example is vital towards understanding this new, decentralized information age.

It is hard work speaking to an audience in a media landscape that is diverse as currently exists. Think about trying to reach a young Tik Tok user living in a big city, a white-collar newspaper reader living in the suburbs, and an elderly rural couple watching Fox News. It might be hard enough crafting a message that appeals to all three, but it proves even harder getting this message across to them. Every issue does not have to break through to every audience all at once, but it does at least some of the time and for that to happen we have to be trying everything everywhere all at once. Modern Democratic political communications have largely not kept up with the pace and very few current elected officials are able to breakthrough consistently, let alone understand how to break through when necessary. Recent events continue to tell us that it is beyond necessary.

One bright spot is that more and more Democratic politicians are recognizing the need to compete in nontraditional spaces. They are trying – and I give them praise for that. But too often it comes across as cringe. Case in point is when Joe Manchin declared he was having a “brat” summer (refresher on “brat”). I see this frequently; a current trend is lighting up the Socials and some digital staffer finally convinces their boss to add their contribution to the trend. Again, praise to those trying and no shade to the staffer just trying to do their job but it simply comes off as…

The problem is a random and sporadic attempt at going viral with message to buttress the attention. If you are going to capture someone’s attention for 10 seconds max, you have to deliver a simple message that will resonate. It takes the intertwined elements of sustained effort and message disciple. Breaking through is the new vehicle to communicate to an audience that would not normally be reached. Successful Democratic politicians that are able to break through have a two-fold recipe: one is a savvy digital team and two is a willing principal who does not look at digital as an afterthought, but a medium to communicate a message, just like they would in any TV interview. Democrats need a “both and” strategy between traditional and nontraditional media. We need more integration of digital strategy baked into the overall communications gameplan from those who know how to do it.

The fracturing and polarization of politics has become one of the distinctive trends of our contemporary moment. The decentralization and breakdown of media information systems has been at once an outgrowth and driver of this trend. But with every crisis, opportunity. There is a chance here for Democrats to seize the mantle and drive an effective message against Trump and Republicans for all types of horrible shit they are doing – from detaining Americans without due process, kneecapping our economy, or cutting off cancer funding. There is more than enough fodder for content, and no doubt Democrats will hammer Republicans on all of this. But it’s only up to Democrats if they want to be truly effective while they do it.

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