Snapchat helped over 400,000 people register to vote, says report – CNET

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Snapchat’s tool that helps people register to vote. 

Snapchat

Snapchat’s tool to help people register to vote has apparently been a success.

Snap, the popular app’s parent company, on Tuesday said that Snapchat has helped more than 400,000 users register to vote over the past two weeks. 

Snapchat introduced a tool on Sept. 25, National Voter Registration Day, that lets users click a link on their User Profile page and register to vote. The link redirects users to TurboVote, a nonprofit that helps people register. Many of the new potential voters hail from states such as Texas, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Georgia, according to TurboVote’s data provided by a Snap spokesperson. The majority of the users who signed up for TurboVote are in the 18 to 24 years old range. 

Snapchat’s results seem to surpass even the Taylor Swift effect. Earlier this month, the popular singer took to Instagram to urge her fans to vote in the upcoming US midterm elections, which take place Nov. 6. In the following days, Vote.org said it had seen a surge in voter registrations, with 65,000 new voters in a 24 hour period. More than 166,000 people reportedly registered following Swift’s post.

Other tech giants have launched similar initiatives to encourage users to register. Twitter said last month that it would put a registration prompt into users’ Twitter timelines. Google devoted a Google Doodle to registering. Reddit had a pop-up message linking to nationalvoterregistrationday.org.

First published on Oct. 23, 2:47 p.m. PT.

Updates on Oct. 24, 7:54 a.m. PT: Adds more information provided by a Snap spokesperson.