From midday on Thursday 18 February, people up and down the country ‘tweeted’ at #voteforstudents, as part of an effort to raise awareness of the campaign.
‘Vote for Students’ also became the second most popular ‘trend’ in the UK, behind Sir Nicholas Winterton, who had earlier that day controversially argued that those who travel by train in standard- rather than first- class are a "totally different type of people".
Tweets ranged from the factual, with “Dear Mps and PPCs, if this many people are tweeting about #voteforstudents imagine the impact at the ballot box” (@HallamOfficers), to the more humorous: “The moment I wake up, before I put on my make up, I #voteforstudents”
Many parliamentary candidates got in on the act as well, with Liverpool Wavertree PPC Luciana Berger tweeting, “As a former member of @nusuk I will be fighting university fees & listening to students #voteforstudents www.voteforstudents.co.uk” and Streatham PPC Chucka Umunna responding to a query as to whether he had signed the pledge, “Of course! Signed the pledge weeks ago.”
The twittering session resulted in several hundred students signing up to the pledge during the ‘trending’ campaign and in the couple of hours following it.
Susan Nash, NUS Vice President (Society and Citizenship), said "Vote for Students becoming a trending topic worldwide shows the difference that students can make when they get together and make something happen. When it comes to election day, MPs and parliamentary candidates should be clear that this movement will not vote for them if they do not sign the pledge and come clean on fees."
If you haven’t done so yet, join the ‘trend’, and sign up at here.
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