The choice and “gen z test”: How a newsfluencer achieved young people

Humorous, annoying and in youth language: politics and election campaign at eye level with the young generation, the “gen z” – is that possible? So -called newsfluencers like Fabian Grischkat try to reach young voters via social media and to inform about the upcoming Bundestag election. On his parties, he challenges the parties with questions.

Because TV debates for the Bundestag election fill the media landscape and are supposed to help with the election decision-but in particular, young people no longer only find out about television, radio and newspapers. Instead, Tikke, Instagram, X and Co. are the most important sources of information for many.

The fact that parties and politicians make election campaign on social platforms has become established in Germany at the latest, such as the “Political Participation in Germany” investigated by the Berlin Wheat Baum Institute.

Newsfluencers such as Grischkat also bring politics to social platforms. They often create short videos or contributions in which you comment on current topics. Depending on the topic and appearance, newsfluencers like other influencers can generate a large reach and reach a large young audience with their produced content, sometimes even influence or inspire.

Grischkat interviewed politicians for the upcoming Bundestag election in his format “Gen Z Test”. It was not always about dry politics, business or election programs, but the young target group should be achieved differently-with “gen z-language” and trends of the young generation. He conducted the conversations “gen z” and divided them into a format series on his Instagram channel.

The format “Gen Z Test” has more than 62,000 likes – and the trend is rising. They are known names that have faced the test. Left-wing top candidate Heidi Reichinnek, for example, should answer the question of whether Gregor Gysi is a “maincharacter” or an “NPC”, that is, a main or secondary character of a video game. “Definitely ‘maincharacter’. I would even say that he is ‘Goat’ (the greatest of all time, editor’s note),” replied the 36-year-old, who is now a star at Tiktok star reported).

In addition to the Left Party, Grischkat also visited the Greens chairman Felix Banaszak, SPD boss Saskia Esken, FDP parliamentary group vice Konstantin Kuhle and the deputy chairman of the CSU, Dorothee Bär.

Grischkat asked Banaszak, among other things, whether he was the “NPC” of the Greens in view of the popularity of Robert Habeck and who he “crings”. The answer: Markus Söder. Also with the viral “Smash or Pass”, a question game in which you choose “Smash” when you find a person attractive and “pass”, if not, he demanded Banaszak.

SPD boss Esken had Grischkat distributed “aura points”. This expresses whether someone has charisma or charisma or a topic is cool.

“Is the D in D-Day for ‘Delulu’? (A colloquial shortening of” delusional “, ie” delusional “, which describes unrealistic or exaggerated ideas),” asks Grischkat the FDP politician Kuhle-and whether Christian Lindner is too many “Heartbreaks” in life or why he was otherwise black and white on all posters.

Other topics in the “gen z tests” were the legalization of cannabis or the question of how high the screen time of the interviewees was.

Grischkat wants to make young people to vote with “gen z” language, trends and political issues that deal this generation. The format reaches a young audience on social platforms and tests in a humorous way how well the politicians react to the forms of communication of the “Gen-Z”.

This approach can be an effective method. According to one of the psychology faculty of the University of Cologne, it is obvious that “influencers are perceived as just as credible Instagram representatives as classic news magazines”. It also says “that consumers (sometimes) attribute the same credibility to both magazines and influencers, especially if they are not yet known.”

How many young voters of Grischkat’s format will actually encourage voting on February 23 remains unclear.