YouTube and Vine stars like 21-year-old Cameron Dallas and 18-year-old Nash Grier could play a major role in the presidential election, says billionaire tech/entertainment entrepreneur Mark Cuban. Are political operatives up to speed? Marketers understand that the “influencer economy” is the real juice now — brands strive to get mentions in the celeb-studded streams that people actually get their information from. Quick quiz: name the three network news anchors. Didn’t think so. Now name the three people you see most in your Facebook feed or on Snapchat. Yeah, that’s easier.
And that’s who influences your opinion — because that’s your environment. Those feeds reach you where you live. On Blog Maverick, Cuban explains it simply: “IMHO, any candidate that wants to win the youth vote should be more interested in getting an endorsement from Nash Grier types than traditional political influencers. It’s a new political world.” In that world, so far it seems that Bernie Sanders is winning. Though Hillary has been hanging out with the Kardashians.
