Every minute of every day 3600 images are uploaded to Insta­gram — that’s over five mil­lion pic­tures in any one twen­ty four-hour peri­od. There’s lit­tle won­der then that Barack Oba­ma has cho­sen the image shar­ing site as his pre­ferred bat­tl­ground in a fer­vent bid to secure the youth vote. Indeed, the 2012 pres­i­den­tial can­di­dates have all decid­ed that their pre­ferred way to court younger vot­ers is not by vis­it­ing schools, clubs and col­leges, but by har­ness­ing the unde­ni­able pow­er of social media.