Academics Archives - Social Media and Politics

#181: AI and Political Campaigns, with Dr. Michael D. Cohen

March 28, 2025

Dr. Michael D. Cohen, CEO of Cohen Research Group and author of Modern Political Campaigns, shares how artificial intelligence is impacting political campaigns. We discuss how AI is like an automated staffer, and what types of human involvement is still needed to craft a winning strategy. We also examine AI’s role in generating copy like social media posts and speeches, as well as how it can be used for qualitative data analysis such as focus groups. In addition, we consider how AI relates to trending concepts such as authenticity and political polarization.

Get a copy of the 2nd edition of Modern Political Campaigns on Amazon or directly through the publisher.

And you can listen to a broader discussion of the book in an earlier episode.

#179: Digital Media Metaphors and Social Media Buzzwords, with Dr. Johan Farkas and Dr. Marcus Maloney

January 5, 2025

Dr. Johan Farkas and Dr. Marcus Maloney discuss how the language used to describe digital media frames our understanding and the actions of policymakers. We break down how terms like “toxic”, “trolls”, and “filter bubbles” are often used uncritically and limit how we understand the relationships between digital media and social problems like misogyny, racism, and harassment.

Here’s a link to the book discussed in the episode:

Digital Media Metaphors: A Critical Introduction (2024)

#178: 2024 Year in Review! Social Media and Politics, with Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten

December 20, 2024

The 9th Annual Social Media and Politics Year in Review!

This year, we cover the platforms’ year in review reports, election interference in Romania, the battle over text and the “eXodus”, and social media bans for teenagers.

Here are links to resources discussed in the episode, and see you in 2025!

Meta
TikTok
Snap
Pinterest
Twitch
Google
Pornhub

#176: Media Systems, Digital Media, and the Hybridity Cycle, with Prof. Daniel Hallin

October 18, 2024

Professor Daniel C. Hallin, Distinguished Professor of Communication at UC San Diego, shares his thoughts on media systems and how digital media relates to the concept. We discuss the components of a ‘system’ and current debates around the concept of ‘hybridity’ in media studies. This leads to a broader discussion of conceptual stretching, media capture, and how single case studies can be made comparative through dialogue with existing scholarship.

The recording took place while Prof. Hallin was a Visiting Professor at the Department of Communication and Media at Lund.

Here are the two articles we discuss in the episode:

Comparative Research, System Change, and the Complexity of Media Systems (2020)
The Concept of Hybridity in Journalism Studies (2023)

#170: Race, Racism, and Resistance on Social Media, with Dr. Rob Eschmann

February 24, 2024

Dr. Rob Eschmann, Associate Professor of Social Work at Columbia University, discusses his latest book When the Hood Comes Off: Racism and Resistance in the Digital Age (University of California Press).

We cover how social media works to unmask everyday experiences of racism, and how this affects student life at American universities. Dr. Eschmann also shares his research on social media, racial microaggressions, and Black Twitter; thoughts on TikTok and algorithmic bias; and how resisting racism requires engaging in conversation.

#169: Data-Driven Campaigning: How Political Campaigns use Data, Analytics, and Technology, with Prof. Kate Dommett and Dr. Simon Kruschinski

February 11, 2024

Prof. Kate Dommett, Professor of Digital Politics at the University of Sheffield, and Dr. Simon Kruschinski, Postdoctoral Researcher in Communication at the University of Mainz, discuss their new book: Data-Driven Campaigning and Political Parties.

We discuss the book’s theoretical framework on how system-level, regulatory-level, and party-level factors explain variation in data-driven campaigning across five democracies: the US, UK, Canada, Germany, and Australia.

Prof. Dommett and Dr. Kruschinski also break down their findings on how data, analytics, targeting, and personnel differ across these five cases, and how regulation might need to focus on broader structures in the electoral system to minimize the potential harms of campaign practices.

#168: China’s Digital Strategy for Information Control, with Dr. Andrew MacDonald

January 28, 2024

Dr. Andrew W. MacDonald, Assistant Professor of Social Science at Duke Kunshan University, shares research from his new book Directed Digital Dissidence in Autocracies: How China Wins Online.

We discuss the Chinese digital and social media context, citizens’ perceptions of online propaganda, and how the state manipulates digital information to further its political interests.

We also discuss survey methodology, how citizens circumvent the Great Firewall, and what affect using the internet and VPNs has on trust in the state.

#166: Democracy, Architecture, and Social Media, with Dr. Jennifer Forestal

October 21, 2023

Dr. Jennifer Forestal, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago, discusses how digital platforms can be approached from an architectural perspective. Dr. Forestal shares insights from her latest book, Designing for Democracy, where she evaluates digital platforms’ democratic potential from the lens of political theory. The episode breaks down a framework for how to assess the democratic quality of social media platforms by examining their degrees of boundaries, durability, and flexibility. Dr. Forestal reveals how these properties can be illustrated by the cases of Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.