news, federal-politics, memes, election, auspol, facebook, election campaign

In the ever-increasing battle for the attention of young voters at the federal election, war is being waged by the major parties one share and one Facebook react at a time. But in recent years a new battle front has emerged, one that social media experts predict could be used even more prominently in years to come. Welcome to the world of Australian political memes. In the weeks leading up to the federal election, Facebook pages in support of major parties have been churning out memes - online photos or videos often referencing pop culture and shared with slight variations - to reach voters. In many cases, memes in reference to other topics, from Game of Thrones to the latest viral video, have been repurposed to reference Australian political issues to varying levels of social media success. Michael Trembath is the admin of the meme page Australian Green Memes for Actually Progressive Teens, which has more than 16,000 likes on Facebook. He said memes were able reach young voters in ways traditional advertising could never do. "Memes get straight to the point, they distill a complex news story or policy with lots of nuances into something that's easily digestible and understood," Mr Trembath said. "Memes are relatively new to elections, but they get bigger and bigger. They can impact, promote and inform people about politics." Memes are submitted by contributors and the page's admins then select which ones to feature prominently. Mr Trembath said recency and relevancy were key to making a perfect meme. "A successful meme is all in the timing, so a meme referencing breaking news is going to work better," he said. "Memes about the Egg Boy incident just after it happened had a big groundswell of likes." While the meme pages themselves aren't run by officials connected to political parties, they're often operated by party supporters. Just as the major parties have engaged in political slanging matches on the campaign trail, so, too, have the meme pages in support of the Liberals and Labor. A meme page in support of the Liberals, Innovative and Agile Memes, and one in support of Labor, the ALP Spicy Meme Stash, regularly engage in online battles. Innovative and Agile Memes, which has more than 36,000 likes, was set up in support of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull before the 2016 election. The page name is a nod to Mr Turnbull's constant references to how Australia had to be an innovative and agile country during the 2016 election campaign. The Liberal leadership may have changed hands to Scott Morrison in 2018, but the page still regularly churns out memes in support of the party. The page's admin, who declined to be named, said political memes had filtered through from Facebook groups into the official pages of political parties. "Take a look at the Liberal Party of Australia page. Either there's someone running that page that loves Game of Thrones so much they're willing to put their job on the line to give some free promos, or the parties are beginning to realise just how effective a good meme can be at spreading a message," the admin said. "Conventional advertising can't sell a feeling quite like a meme can. "Memes can sell the positives and push the negatives of an individual politician in a more specific and in a more casualised manner than any political ad ever could." A representative from the ALP Spicy Meme Stash declined to comment. Political communication and digital media expert at the University of Melbourne Scott Wright said while memes might support a particular political party, their creation outside of campaign headquarters made it seem a more authentic form of advertising. "While campaign-created memes are clearly important, the more effective memetic content tends to come from outside of the formal campaigns," Dr Wright said. "In the era of paid reach on social media, memes have the potential to jump outside the filter bubble and spread virally." Dr Wright said many memes pushed out by the Facebook pages played into the political cycle. "A secondary type of meme is where a party picks up on key campaign issues, such as the preference deal between Clive Palmer and the Liberal Party, and can user this to create easily shareable, funny images and short clips that feed into the story," he said. While the rise of memes as an election tool has exploded in recent years, they aren't without their downsides. Dr Wright said many memes pushed out to Facebook pages in support of political parties were preaching to the converted, and the success of the memes in winning over new voters depended on if they were shared with people outside of those groups. "The hope is that a follower will share it to their wall and others will see it, but algorithm changes seem to have made this more difficult," he said. "Viewing memes might have some small influence on a swing voter, for example, if one leader or party or policy is constantly ridiculed or attacked, but this is likely not just by memes but a broader suite of tools being deployed." It isn't just pages in support of political parties pushing out memes for the election. Unaffiliated pages are also using them to sway support. The Simpsons Against the Liberals, a Facebook page using memes that mix The Simpsons with Australian politics that has more than 100,000 likes, has been creating memes since 2014. Since the election was called, the page has turned its attention to content surrounding the federal poll and getting young people to register to vote. "[Memes are] part of the language of campaigning. If you want people to push forth your issues, you need to be able to talk to them the way they know how," an admin for the page said. "We want to make politics more accessible. Often it goes above people's heads and can be seen as too difficult to understand . "Politics affects everyone, and everyone should be given the tools to understand how they're affected by the government." With the election just days away, meme use by Facebook pages as well as official parties will increase in an effort to win over predominantly younger voters. And while their use as a campaign tool has exploded, Mr Trembath said their use was only going to increase with every subsequent poll. "Memes are relatively new to elections but they're getting bigger and bigger," he said. "The general political discourse isn't just the traditional newspaper or TV. There's also social media components and it's going to be a growing influence."

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