As campaign season rolls around, students’ Facebook timelines start to overflow with new profile pictures and long, persuasive messages in support of candidates running for ASB or class officer positions. The focus of ASB and class officer campaigns has shifted from on-campus to online campaigning over the past few years, and a strong social media campaign is now essential for success. Although online campaigning gives candidates a platform to detail their plans and ideas, it can also give an unfair advantage to certain candidates who have more followers or friends on their social media platforms, resulting in campaigns focused more on popularity rather than qualifications and ideas. The current system of unregulated online campaigning should be limited to solely a more equitable platform, such as the lhscampaign website, that allows candidates to detail their plans and students to ask questions.

“I don’t think social media is too essential in a campaign, although it can be a very useful tool, simply because we already do a lot of campaigning at school,” said sophomore ASB secretary-elect Emily Zhang. “We make posters and candidates do their best to try to talk to people. We have speeches, we have Q&A sessions, and I think that without social media, candidates might be more inclined to actually campaign in person and at school.”

Lynbrook’s current election system regulates the extent to which a candidate can promote their campaign on campus, but fails to do so online. For on-campus campaigning, the number of posters and flyers allowed on campus is limited to three posters and 10 flyers to ensure that all candidates get equal exposure and that students with more money to spend cannot overshadow their opponents. No regulations, however, are placed on online campaigns because of their nature and how hard they are to enforce.

“I think there are opportunities for us to review the current process and improve it,” said Assistant Principal of Activities and Athletics Anne Butterworth. “My concern is it’s important we don’t make rules we can’t enforce. I don’t have time to scroll through Facebook all day every day to see what someone’s posting online.”

Online, social media followers play a large role in the success of a candidate. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have algorithms that filter what is seen by users based on several factors, including how active the user is and who they interact with most on the site. These algorithms can result in less exposure for candidates who are not as active. Additionally, while sites like Facebook present many appealing methods for promotion such as profile photos, events and groups, those same features make online campaigning unfair. For example, candidates ask their friends to change their profile photos in order to show their support, as these endorsements help a candidate receive more publicity. Candidates whose friends may not be as active on social media, however, are at a disadvantage, as their friends would be less likely to participate in profile picture campaigning. Profile picture changes are also not always an accurate representation of who one actually supports, as many feel obligated to change their profile picture when a candidate asks them to. The current system puts too much of an emphasis on connections and less on actual ideas and policies, which is not what ASB and class officer campaigns should be about.

“[Social media campaigning] definitely isn’t fair because there’s a lot of factors that go into social media campaigning such as how active a candidate or their friends are on social media and how big their social media circles are,” said Zhang. “Social media can be a good thing and candidates can definitely use it to their advantage; however, I think it doesn’t really provide the best perception of the campaign and it can be unfair.”