What Jeremy Corbyn's up to on Snapchat

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Jeremy Corbyn on SnapchatImage source, Snapchat

Jeremy Corbyn's become the first leader of a major UK political party to join Snapchat... and it's pretty exciting.

Just look. There are photos of the man at the top of the Labour party signing things...

Image source, Jeremy Corbyn/snapchat

Of Jeremy Corbyn attending meetings...

Image source, Jeremy Corbyn/Snapchat

There's even the odd Jeremy Corbyn selfie (um, not actually selfie)...

Image source, Jeremy Corbyn/Snapchat

Sure, some of the pictures may be blurry...

Image source, Jeremy Corbyn/Snapchat

Some of them may even be sideways...

Image source, Jeremy Corbyn/Snapchat

OK not just some of them...

Image source, Jeremy Corbyn/Snapchat

But there is a more serious point.

More than half of Snapchat's users are aged 16 to 24 and the 66-year-old wants to appeal to them.

So far he's doing well.

He became Labour leader partly because of the high numbers of younger people who voted for him.

His straight-talking, no-nonsense style has been embraced by many tired of more traditional politics.

Policies including scrapping tuition fees and zero hour contracts have also helped win younger voters.

He says his campaign gave "hope" to those turned off by politics, arguing young people had been "written off" by other political parties.

He's always been clear he wants to do things differently as leader of the opposition and it looks like that also includes his media strategy, whether that be social or mainstream media.

His campaign team say communicating with younger voters is "a priority".

Mr Corbyn chose to speak to Newsbeat for his first broadcast interview after becoming leader in September, saying his campaign was "about hope, about inclusion, about democracy, about opportunities for young people".

Jeremy Corbyn's first Instagram post, external

He also joined Instagram on Sunday, with his first post... a picture of a Tunnock's tea cake with the caption "on the road fuel".

Mr Corbyn already has half a million Facebook likes and 420,000 Twitter followers.

Instagram and Snapchat won't get the same sort of political engagement as bigger platforms, but his team sees it as a way to show his life "behind-the scenes", hoping it will let him reveal a bit more personality.

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