The upcoming 2025 federal election in Australia will mark a significant turning point, with Gen Z and Millennials surpassing Baby Boomers as the largest voting demographic. This generational shift is expected to reshape political messaging, with meme culture, co-created content, and TikTok campaigns taking centre stage, according to Alexander Campbell, a senior lecturer at the Peter Faber Business School.
Dr Campbell highlighted that Gen Z and Millennials now make up 47% of the electorate, posing a challenge to political parties seeking to engage voters who consume information in new, decentralised ways.
“Gen Z consumes the majority of their media through TikTok, Instagram and YouTube,” Dr Campbell said. “They are also the generation that really embraced streaming and took it from niche to mainstream.”
This reliance on digital platforms and personalised content has diminished the effectiveness of traditional mass media campaigns. Instead, political messaging is increasingly fragmented, spanning multiple platforms where earned, shared, and owned media often outperform traditional paid advertising in influence and longevity.
The power – and risk – of viral content
Dr Campbell emphasised the double-edged nature of viral content in political discourse. While organic posts can amplify messages far beyond their original audience, the rapid and uncontrolled spread of information also raises concerns about misinformation.
“When something goes viral through a post from a social account, you can’t stop it,” Dr Campbell explained. “The algorithms will keep serving you community-based posts on your social platforms as part of ongoing political conversations.”
However, the lack of robust tools to differentiate factual content from disinformation poses significant risks. “We are really still in the wild, wild west when it comes to mis and disinformation,” he said.
Shifting tactics for a new generation
With the election approaching in May, political parties are expected to integrate meme culture and engage voters on platforms like TikTok to spark dialogue and energise younger constituents. Such strategies could redefine political communication by blending entertainment and substance in ways that resonate with digital natives.
Dr Campbell noted, “It doesn’t take a genius to work out that there is a problem identifying what is real and what is not on social media. If you are on there for a few weeks, you can see just how divisive it is.”