Ahead of the federal election on Saturday, July 2, Cronulla student Ruby Teys is jumping on the social media bandwagon to encourage young people to post and engage in political views.
Twitter Australia has partnered with University of Technology Sydney to enable students to have a voice on election day by providing alternate coverage on the digital platform.
Ms Teys is one of 25 students from the university who will be at polling stations in Sydney, doing interviews with voters and politicians, while sharing real-time updates on Twitter.
The first-year student who is studying journalism and creative innovation, says the idea is to get more young people interested in the election.
“I think the young vote this election is really important because young people are so underrepresented in parliament,” she said.
“Hopefully, outlets like Twitter can get the youth showing up this election day to cast their vote.
“As official Twitter election reporters, we will be covering the happenings in and around people's electorates – in places where we know the votes will be tight.
“[It will be about] finding out how voters are feeling and how they have found the campaign so far.
“We'll be updating Twitter with most important election news that breaks as the day goes on.
“It's an opportunity to really get that hands-on experience in the real media world.”
