Insta-Engaged Youth: Exploring GenZ’s Political Engagement on Instagram during the 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election

Abstract

This study examines how Generation Z (GenZ) became politically engaged on Instagram, with the main focus on how this platform influenced their political awareness, activism, perceptions, and opinions, especially during the 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election. GenZ, otherwise called as postmillenials, or Zoomers, is a generational label for those who were born after 1995. GenZ, alongside Millenials, became the largest voter groups during the 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election, which makes 56,45% from the total voter population. This research attempts to examine social media impacts on political engagement among GenZ that are currently studying in universities, and following Prabowo Subianto’s official Instagram account, to see how he engaged with GenZ and won the election, where collected data thus be scrutinized using qualitative approach that combined Media Impact Theory and Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). Data collected for this study also include semi-structured interviews to the participants. There are three findings of the research, first, the candidates who used instagram during the presidential elections gained massive supports from youth, thanks to their appealing contents which accommodate said demographic’s taste, second, Indonesian GenZ are much more likely to give like, comments, or even share a post from the candidates where they also shared their own point of views, especially when the candidates were asking about their opinions on specific issues, and lastly, GenZ, who currently studying in universities, love to take actions by sharing or reposting political issues from third party, usually from politicians, professionals, or reputable media.