Earlier this month, Morning Consult published a poll that popped the Twitter bubble so violently it is a small wonder none of us suffered whiplash.
After users of the social network uniformly blasted Pepsi over its infamous Kendall Jenner advertisement, a Morning Consult survey found 44 percent of people who watched it had a “more favorable” view of Pepsi afterwards.
Furthermore, it was popular with minorities, the very group Twitter pundits claimed it would offend most. As I wrote at the time:
Seventy-five percent of Hispanics and 51 percent of African Americans had a more favorable view of Pepsi after watching the ad, compared with 41 percent of white respondents…A full 77 percent of Hispanics said the ad actually made them more likely to purchase Pepsi products. That sentiment was shared by 38 percent of African-Americans and 32 percent of all respondents in general.
This week, the Harvard Institute of Politics’ much-anticipated annual survey of more than 2,600 18-29 year-olds found that less than half of the young people surveyed even have a Twitter account.
Only 42 percent of respondents reported having an account on the platform. Of that group, just 22 percent reported having ever used Twitter to advocate for a political position.
On the other hand, more than 80 percent reported having a Facebook account. Still, among Facebook users, only 24 percent reported using that platform to advocate for political positions, though 40 and 34 percent reported using it to “like” political issues and candidates respectively.
The temptation to interpret our Twitter feeds as a useful sampling of public opinion is strong, but this is another reminder for us to exercise caution in doing so. Even among young people, opinions we see reflected on the platform represent only a fraction of the country.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
