Social Media Supporting Statehood

Puerto Rico voted for statehood. Puerto Rico should now become a state. All that its required is a vote from Congress to admit Puerto Rico.

What can help that happen? Certainly, write a letter to your rep in Congress. Send an email or make a phone call. Make sure your rep knows that you support statehood for Puerto Rico. And make sure that your friends and family in the states do the same.

But social media can also help spread the word. As the infographic below shows, your tweet or post can reach more people than you might expect. And Congress pays attention, too.

How many people see a tweet?

The average Twitter user only tweets a couple of times a month. Leaving aside businesses and organizations, 10% of Twitter’s individual users produce 80% of the tweets. The average individual account on Twitter has just 19 followers.

So your tweet might reach 10 people. Does that seem like it’s not worth tweeting your thoughts on Puerto Rico statehood? It shouldn’t. Suppose all 10 of those people retweet, and each one reaches 10 people, each of whom retweets?

1 x 10 = 10. 10 x 10 = 100. 10 x 100 = 1000. 1000 x 10 = 10,000. 10,000 x 10 = 100,000. 100,000 x 10 = 1,000,000.

Not everyone will retweet. But some of the people who see your tweet will have more than 19 followers, too.

Having a tweet go viral is like winning the lottery — you can’t count on it. You can’t even really work toward it. But you can be sure that any thoughts you share at Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram will reach more people than you realize. When you join us by tweeting or retweeting, we can do more.

How much effect does a tweet have?

77% of Twitter users say that it is a source of news for them. 42% use Twitter to discuss political issues. That makes Twitter a good place to talk about statehood for Puerto Rico.

One study of Twitter users in Congress found that 30 tweets on a subject was enough to get a rep’s attention. If you live in a state, this could be an excellent goal: post or encourage others in your state to post 30 tweets directed to your  congressperson. You could post one a day for a month. You could post one each week and encourage 5 people to retweet, and reach your goal in a little more than a month. You could ask friends and family to join you in the effort and reach the 30-tweet goal fast — and, with more accounts tweeting, the effect would be stronger.

Another study found that just 107 accounts tweeted about an event, and reached 1,432,573 Twitter accounts. Can you be one of the 107 accounts that can reach almost a million and a half people?

Together, we can do more

Studies have shown that people who know more about Puerto Rico’s political status are more likely to support statehood. The more people support statehood, the more Congress will do the same.

Here are simple instructions for how to reach your reps on Twitter:

How to Reach Your Representatives on Twitter

For the next month, commit to tweeting or retweeting about Puerto Rico statehood on your coffee break. Or choose Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook. Just give yourself that 15 minutes to make a difference.

Start with our suggested tweets. Retweet a few tweets each day. See how many people you can reach by the end of the month.