Political Social Grab Bag – May 2026

Political Social Grab Bag

My name is Rosemari Ochoa and I’m your on-again, off-again guest editor (hi Beth, enjoy the time OOO) for the Political Social Media Grab Bag. I’m coming in hot this morning for the May Social Media Grab Bag because I didn’t want to clog your inbox on May 1st.

Want to know more about me? Scroll to the end!

What am I thinking about?

I know you know this, but it’s so inspiring to me that every single one of yesterday’s May Day events (check out the photo round up from the U.S. here) relied on social media to shape and spread the message, mobilize people, and share our collective impact. Bravo! Victory laps online aren’t just fun, they’re social proof that we are changing the world. Shout out to my comadres at Voces de la Frontera for putting together a digital toolkit that organizations and regular people could actually use to boost turnout in Wisconsin.

Zohran Mamdani won in November and now he’s governing like he campaigned: always on, always in the community, always on camera. It’s working, and it’s a blueprint every communicator and organizer in this space should be studying in our economy of attention. 

The Voting Rights Act was gutted this weekend and SCOTUSBlog’s explainer videos helped me understand what’s happening in a simple and clear way and pass it on to others. 

What am I reading?

Carmen Rojas on LinkedIn, CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, has been posting incredible portraits and stories about people who have been kidnapped by ICE. The campaign isn’t flashy or overly polished and that’s what I love about it: Each post is a deeply moving and personal tribute.

Teens’ Experiences on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat from Pew Research Center finds that ~30% of teens on TikTok and Instagram are getting info about politics from those platforms. As always, Pew is worth a read and this article is a “must” if you’re working with young people.

I really love taking for-profit research and figuring out ways to use it for good. In that spirit I want to share YouGov’s report “How Brands Can Reach Gen Z.“ Lots of good findings and a reminder that social media isn’t just where Gen Z hangs out: it’s their primary discovery hub for everything. Side note: I have found the folks at YouGov very responsive regarding  specific, one-off questions about their wide range of free research. 

Platform updates

The man, the myth, the former Univision journalist Jorge Ramos has been showing up on social media and it’s working. A lot: 100 million+ views across platforms and Emmy nominations. There are real parallels to Don Lemon’s pivot here: Legacy journalists meet 2026.

Instagram Instants is now a thing. It’s a standalone app that lets you share disappearing photos with friends. It seems like a weird Snapchat-meets-BeReal mashup that no one asked for.

Instagram Trial Reels can be scheduled. This lets you test content with people who don’t follow you before deciding whether to push it to your main feed…basically like a built-in A/B test. After you share a trial reel, your followers won’t see it in their feed or Instagram’s Reels tab unless it performs well and you choose to share it out. Great for trying new content styles without risking the main feed’s vibe.

About your guest editor

A bit about me: my name is Rosemari (pronouned “Rosemarie”) Ochoa. I’m a bilingual strategist, a digital organizer, and a trainer where I’ve been lucky to often work alongside Becker Digital Strategies since its inception.

Lately, you can find me unironically making trivia slide decks about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show and Mexican history and culture for my family and friends. They are super nerdy, but if that’s your jam, email rosemari@rosemariochoa.com and I will send them to you!

If you’re still reading this, let’s go give Beth some birthday love! Thanks for reading!

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