Episodes

#116: Instagram for Political Campaigning, Agenda Setting, and the 2020 US Election, with Prof. Terri Towner

October 25, 2020 Academics

Dr. Terri Towner, Professor of Political Science at Oakland University, discusses her research on political campaigning and information on Instagram. We also give first impressions from the last presidential debate between Trump and Biden, and break down some poll results about citizens’ social media use during the coronavirus pandemic. 

 

Here are the two studies we discuss in the episode: 

 

The Image is the Message: Instagram Marketing and the 2016 Presidential Primary Season

Instagramming Issues: Agenda Setting During the 2016 Presidential Campaign

#115: Bad News, Social Media, and Digital Campaigning in Britain, with Dr. Mark Pack

October 4, 2020 Academics

Dr. Mark Pack, President of the Liberal Democrats, guests to discuss his new book: “Bad News: What the Headlines Don’t Tell Us.“

 

We talk about some of the flaws of election campaign coverage and how to be better consumers of news using social media. Dr. Pack also shares his insights on digital campaigning in Britain, where he ran digital operations for the LibDems in the 2001 and 2005 general elections. 

#114: The Hype Machine: Political Implications of the Social Media Industrial Complex, with Prof. Sinan Aral

September 19, 2020 Academics

Sinan Aral, David Austin Professor of Management at MIT and Director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, discusses his new book “The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health—and How We Must Adapt.”


Prof. Aral breaks down key theoretical concepts from the book, which outlines some of the fundamental mechanisms for how social media platforms operate. We also discuss the science behind these concepts and they implications they have for elections, politics, and society. 

#113: Data-Driven Political Campaigning in Germany, with Dr. André Haller and Simon Kruschinski

September 5, 2020 Academics

Dr. André Haller (University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tyrol) and Simon Kruschinski (University of Mainz) share their research into data-driven political campaigning in Germany. We discuss the key political, legal, and cultural factors that influence German politicians digital campaigning, differences in organic posts versus paid advertisements, and how social media platforms have been used by fringe political actors.

 

Here’s the research paper we discuss in the episode: Restrictions on Data-Driven Political Micro-targeting in Germany.

#112: China’s Influence Operations, Propaganda, and Disinformation, with Vanessa Molter

August 23, 2020 Civil Society

Vanessa Molter, Graduate Research Assistant at the Stanford Internet Observatory, breaks down her new report: “Telling China’s Story: The Chinese Communist Party’s Campaign to Shape Global Narratives.” 

 

We discuss what researchers currently know about China’s influence operations on social media, how they compare with Russia’s disinformation strategies, and dive into the report’s three case studies: the 2019 Hong Kong protests, the 2020 Taiwanese presidential elections, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

#111: Data Science across Academia, Industry, and Progressive Campaigns, with Dr. Solomon Messing

August 9, 2020 Academics

Dr. Solomon Messing, Chief Scientist at ACRONYM and Affiliated Researcher at Georgetown University, shares his insights on data science across academia, the tech industry, and political campaigning space. We discuss how computational social science methods have changed over time, and how system architectures can be built to protect social media users’ privacy. We also chat about current trends that Dr. Messing is observing at ACRONYM relating to the persuasiveness and cost of political ads on social media. 

Here’s the paper we discuss on differential privacy, and the Facebook URLs Dataset Codebook. 

#110: Digital Media, Democracy, and the Retooling of Politics, with Dr. Andreas Jungherr

July 18, 2020 Academics

Dr. Andreas Jungherr, Assistant Professor for Social Science Data Collection and Analysis at the University of Konstanz, guests to discuss his latest book, “Retooling Politics: How Digital Media are Shaping Democracy.” 

 

We chat about the state of social media research in political science and political communication, and what we currently know about echo chambers, polarization, and election prediction. We also discuss how digital media is shaping political campaigning and the role it might play for campaigns in the future. 

#109: Digital Organizing for Progressive Campaigns and Advocacy, with Ned Howey

July 5, 2020 Digital Strategists

Ned Howey, CEO of Tectonica, discusses the international firm’s approach to digital organizing for progressive campaigns. We focus on how Tectonica’s digital solutions integrate with NationBuilder, some key principles of website design, and how to engage supporters with an authentic strategy and tone. 

#108: Black Lives Matter Social Media Narratives outside the US, with James MacGregor

June 22, 2020 Civil Society

James MacGregor, Managing Director at Bakamo Public, discusses the main narratives in social media conversations around Black Lives Matter in the UK, Turkey, and Hungary. We break down how key themes from the US protests are translated into these different national contexts, as well as how the online debate has evolved since the protests started. 

#107: Persuasion Effects of Psychometric Targeting and Chatbots, with Dr. Brahim Zarouali

May 31, 2020 Academics

Dr. Brahim Zarouali, Assistant Professor in Persuasive Communication at the University of Amsterdam, discusses his research on social media political ads and their effectiveness on different personality types (introverts and extroverts). We break down the findings from two experiments, which try and replicate the psychometric targeting techniques of firms like Cambridge Analytica  by appealing to users’ psychological traits and emotions. We also discuss the de-polarization potential of chatbots, based on a study Dr. Zarouali conducted that presents participants with pro- or anti-attitudinal news on immigration.