The selfies election: the selfies and social media are changing the way candidates campaign for president.

• Author: Potenza, Alessandra
• Position: NATIONAL

As soon as Hillary Clinton stepped down from the podium at a recent Democratic fund-raiser in Little Rock, Arkansas, Charles Jones sprinted toward her, phone in hand. The 17-yearold high school senior from Benton, Arkansas, made his way through the crowd and asked her for a selfie.

"Well, of course!" Clinton replied. Jones quickly posted it on Twitter and Facebook, unleashing a chain of retweets, favorites, comments, and shares. "It brought a little refresher of popularity to me," he says.

Jones is hardly the only one posting a selfie with a presidential candidate to social media. Where voters once settled for a handshake or an autograph on their yard signs, today they wait in line for hours to snap a quick selfie--the must-have souvenir of the 2016 election. And with five months left before voters begin weighing in at the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary in February, candidates have little choice but to submit to the ritual.

"It's a cultural trend," says Brian Donahue, CEO of a political communications firm. "Presidential candidates who want to communicate that they're in touch and know what's going on culturally--especially among millennials--need to show that they get it. Selfies are an easy way to do that."

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Candidates can now spend an hour--or sometimes two, as Kentucky Senator Rand Paul recently did in New Hampshire--exhausting a line of eager selfie seekers. Others, like Texas Senator Ted Cruz, have learned to add an extra 20 minutes at the start and end of events because so many want pictures.

But that's not necessarily a waste of time. With social media playing a bigger role now than in previous elections, many campaigns are learning to use selfies to their advantage. When shared on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, selfies can exponentially increase a candidate's visibility--especially among young voters--and at no cost.

"This is something that campaigns should embrace and be very happy with, because it's just free advertising," says Vincent Harris, Paul's chief digital strategist. The Paul campaign sees a branding opportunity in selfies. When people line up for photos, campaign aides often erect a backdrop with a "Rand" logo on it for people to pose in front of.

But as campaigns adjust to a social media world, some political experts wonder whether more meaningful voter-candidate interactions are suffering. When candidates oblige so many people, sometimes agreeing to multiple takes to square a double chin or...