Episodes - Page 3 of 18 - Social Media and Politics

#158: Progressive Big Tech Regulation and Advocacy, with Adam Kovacevich

February 5, 2023

Adam Kovacevich, Founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress, shares his trade association’s goals for progressive advocacy in the tech sector. We discuss the politicization of ‘Big Tech’ and recent opinion polls about Midterm voters’ attitudes towards tech regulation. We also discuss how First Amendment rights apply to tech companies, misperceptions of the techlash, and partisan differences in moderating misinformation and free speech.

Extra Links:

President Biden’s op-ed in WSJ

Adam’s presentation on Chamber of Progress’ Midterm Poll

Episode #49 on CCIA and Tech Trade Associations

#157: Political Targeting, Strategic Communication, and Democracy, with Prof. Sanne Kruikemeier

January 21, 2023

Prof. Sanne Kruikemeier, Professor of Digital Media and Society at Wageningen University & Research, discusses her latest research on political targeting. We discuss how political targeting differs in EU and US contexts, how perceptions of targeting affect voters’ democratic perceptions, and what types of issues parties strategically communicate during election campaigns.

Here are the studies discussed in the episode:

Data-driven campaigning and democratic disruption: Evidence from six advanced democracies (2022)

Understanding the democratic role of perceived online political micro-targeting (2022)

(Tar)getting you: The use of online political targeted messages on Facebook (2022)

#156: Digital Political Advertising Beyond Social Media, with Megan Clasen

January 8, 2023

Megan Clasen, Partner at Gambit Strategies, shares her insights into digital political advertising for persuasion and mobilization. We discuss the role of social media ads relative to CTV and OTT advertising, as well as how political ads compete with corporate brands for inventory on these services. Megan also shares her experiences with Facebook’s ad ‘blackout’ period during the 2020 campaign and how the Biden campaign responded to countering Trump’s advertisements. …And much more!

#154: Social Media, Citizen Journalism, and Activism in Africa, with Prof. Bruce Mutsvairo

December 11, 2022

Prof. Bruce Mutsvairo, Professor of Media and Politics at Utrecht University, shares his insights on the role of social media and politics on the African continent. We discuss digital activism across countries, how structures like data bundles might lead to surveillance, and the growing role of influencers as reporters of news.

The Special Issue call for citizen journalists is here (I’ll update the link as soon as it’s live!).

Here are the studies we discuss in the episode:

The Janus face of social media and democracy? Reflections on Africa (2020)

Is citizen journalism dead? An examination of recent developments in the field (2020)

#153: Data-driven Campaigning with Polling and Focus Groups in American Politics, with Zac McCrary

October 29, 2022

Zac McCrary, Partner at Impact Research and host of the Pro Politics podcast, shares his insights on how American campaigns leverage polling and focus groups to craft a winning message. We discuss the upcoming 2022 US midterm elections, the (still) dominant role of television in political advertising, how social media fits into the picture, and how smart phones have changed polling into a multimodal endeavor.

#152: Cross-Platform Visual Campaigning on Social Media: Emotions in Political Candidates’ Facebook and Instagram Images

October 16, 2022

In this episode, it’s just me! I present a recently published study, co-authored with Rasmus Schmøkel and published in Political Communication, that analyzes US Presidential campaigns’ emotion expression across Facebook and Instagram.

I’ll explain the theoretical backdrop of the study, give an overview of the state-of-the-art on visual political communication, and communicate the study’s methods and key results. Hope you enjoy this one-on-one episode!

Here’s a link to the study (feel free to share around):

Cross-Platform Emotions in Social Media Political Campaigning: Comparing Candidates’ Facebook and Instagram Images in the 2020 US Election (2022)

#150: Swedish Elections 2022, Political Communication, and Social Media, with Dr. Nils Gustafsson

September 9, 2022

Dr. Nils Gustafsson, Senior Lecturer of Strategic Communication at Lund University, discusses the run-up to the 2022 Swedish Elections and then findings from his research. First, we chat about the main political issues that Swedes are voting on, as well as how political parties and party leaders are digital campaigning on social media. Then, Dr. Gustafsson shares findings from three of his research projects. We discuss how Facebook was viewed as a tool for participation when it first became widely adopted in Sweden, how rejection sensitivity might affect political expression online, and how media narratives about polarization in Swedish media have changed over time.

Here are links to the two published studies we discuss in the episode:

The Subtle Nature of Facebook Politics: Swedish Social Network Site Users and Political Participation (2012)

A Social Safety Net? Rejection Sensitivity and Political Opinion Sharing among Young People in Social Media (2018)

#149: Social Media, Information Markets, and the Attention Economy, with Prof. Vincent Hendricks

September 3, 2022

Prof. Vincent Hendricks, Professor of Formal Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, discusses his new book The Ministry of Truth: Big Tech’s Influence over Facts, Feelings, and Fictions.

Prof. Hendricks shares how social media are like investment banks in the attention economy, how information is packaged and sold, and what Big Tech’s growing influence on critical infrastructure means for politics and society.