Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump t-shirts. Image: EQRoy/Shutterstock
The future is now, with Twitter bringing voter registration to the masses in the US via a simple direct message assistance aid.
US Twitter users can now register to vote in their upcoming presidential election via the social media giant’s own, almost ubiquitous service.
Largely an assistance-based service, users can now simply send a private direct message to @Gov with their five-digit zip code.
This tailors the assistance they receive, with that person then getting an automatic direct message response, including their state’s voter registration deadline and a personalised link to get registered.
It's National Voter Registration Day. Have you registered to vote? Let the world know! Tweet with #iRegistered. pic.twitter.com/hdPe2VGar6
— Twitter Government (@gov) September 27, 2016
This custom assistance is quite clever, as registration deadlines vary from state to state in the US. Twitter added that its partnership with Pew’s Voting Information Project and Google’s Information Civic API is strengthening this service further.
Additional questions from voters, like polling place location and ballot information, will be entertained through the @Gov account on the back of Pew and Google’s help.
Google itself is assisting US voters in much the same way. A simple search of ‘register to vote’ will see Google throw up voting requirements, guidelines and info on how to register across various formats.
In the US, a specific Google Doodle was created last weekend on much the same theme.
YouTube started its own initiative to get people registered last week, with Facebook too running its own campaign.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump t-shirts. Image: EQRoy/Shutterstock
