Social Media

#183: Youth Political Expression on Social Media, with Dr. Neta Kligler-Vilenchik and Dr. Ioana Literat

April 23, 2025 Academics

Dr. Neta Kligler-Vilenchik and Dr. Ioana Literat share research from their new book Not Your Parent’s Politics: Understanding Young People’s Political Expression on Social Media.

 

We discuss how young people use social media such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to experiment with their political identity, even if they are too young to vote.  Examples from the 2016 US election, Black Lives Matter protests, and climate anxiety help illustrate the various ways that youth express their political opinions across social media platforms. We also discuss how to approach these expressions from a democratic and citizenship perspective. 

 

Dr. Kligler-Vilenchik is Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

 

Dr. Literat is an Associate Professor in the Communication, Media and Learning Technologies Design program at Teachers College, Columbia University.

#167: 2023 Year in Review! Social Media and Politics, with Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten

December 23, 2023 Academics

The 8th Annual Social Media and Politics Year in Review!


This year, we cover the platforms’ year in review reports, AI for political communication, the creator economy, and EU concerns around disinformation and cyberattacks.


Here are links to resources discussed in the episode, and see you in 2024!


Platform Reports:

Meta
Instagram
TikTok
Reddit
Pinterest
Snap
Twitch
Google
YouTube
Pornhub Insights

 

Jimmie Åkesson’s Arabic Deepfake

#160: Digital Media Trends in American Political Campaigns, with Russell Mindich

May 20, 2023 Digital Strategists

Russell Mindich, political consultant and author of the 2022 Political Tech Landscape Report, shares his insights on the role of social media in political campaigning. We discuss social media influencers and how campaigns are connecting to them on TikTok, the move towards politicla advertising on streaming services, and the potential uses of ChatGPT and other generative AI for politics.

#155: 2022 Year in Review! Social Media and Politics, with Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten

December 23, 2022 Academics

The 7th Annual Social Media and Politics Podcast Year in Review! A Mega Episode with lots of knowledge bombs – you’ll simply have to listen to hear them all!

 

Here is a gift of all the platform year in review reports:

 

Facebook: Protecting People from Online Threats in 2022

Instagram: 2023 Instagram Trend Report

Google: Year in Search

TikTok: 1)  Year on TikTok: 2022, truly #ForYou
TikTok: 2) What’s Next 2023 Trend Report

Pinterest: Pinterest Predicts 2022

Reddit: Reddit Recap 2022

Snapchat: Year End 2022

Pornhub: 2022 Year in Review

 

And the two clips played in the episode: 

 

SNL BeReal Skit

Zelensky Deepfake

See you in January for new episodes! 

 

Share your thoughts or questions @SMandPPodcast

 

Keep downloading,  listening, and learning! <3

 

#140: Social Media and the War in Ukraine, with Prof. Joshua Tucker

April 7, 2022 Academics

Joshua Tucker, Professor of Politics at NYU and Co-Director of the Center for Social Media and Politics, discusses social media’s impact on the invasion of Ukraine. We talk about ‘information theaters’ of operation and how they differ across the West, Ukraine, Russia, and China. Prof. Tucker also shares his thoughts on Volodymyr Zelensky’s teleconferencing, the Biden administration’s pre-bunking strategy towards disinformation, multinational corporations’ actions towards sanctions, and Vladimir Putin’s isolation. And more!

 

Here are links to prior episodes on Ukraine:


Volodymyr Zelensky’s Social Media Strategy in the 2019 Ukraine Elections

Russian Disinformation and Social Media in Ukraine

#137: 2021 Year in Review! Social Media and Politics, with Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten

December 22, 2021 Academics

Here we go! A deep dive into the year’s latest trends in social media and politics, as well as predictions for the future. We cover various platforms’ year in review recaps, Telegram and Belarus, Facebook’s change to Meta and the Silicon Valley “Founder”, artificial intelligence and the virtual politician, Web 3 and Parler, and the enduring role of newsletters.


Here’s the platform year in review stats and bonus links for the episode:


Facebook Threat Report

Google Year in Search

Tiktok Cultural Phenomenons

Pinterest Predicts

Reddit Recap

Snap Lens on the Year

Twitter #OnlyOnTwitter

Article with chart on social media’s impact on democracy

The greatest newsletter of all-time


See you in January for new episodes! <3

#132: Social Media and Political Polarization in the United States, with Prof. Chris Bail

September 26, 2021 Academics

Professor Chris Bail, Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Duke University, discusses his latest book Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing. Professor Bail shares findings from three studies on political polarization covering field-experiments, qualitative interviews, and lab experiments. We discuss how social media contributes to a distorted reality in how extremists and moderates discuss politics online, and how this prism fosters a sense false polarization. We also chat about measures that individuals and social media platforms could take to reduce online political polarization. 

Here are supplementary links to two studies discussed in the episode: 

Exposure to Opposing Views on Social Media can Increase Political Polarization (2019)

Political Sectarianism in America (2020)

#128: Modern Political Campaigns and Social Media in the United States, with Dr. Michael D. Cohen

June 13, 2021 Academics

Dr. Michael D. Cohen, CEO of Cohen Research Group and Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, discusses his new book Modern Political Campaigns: How Professionalism, Technology, and Speed Have Revolutionized Elections. 

We talk about how communication technologies have shifted political campaigns from being party-centered to candidate-centered. We also discuss various aspects of political campaigns covered in the book, such as: how political campaigns conduct opposition research, the role of data and analytics in the modern campaign, and the value social media can provide to a political campaign.  

Buy Modern Political Campaigns here and use code RLFANDF30 for 30% off! 

#127: Social Media Communication in the EU, with Tom Moylan

June 4, 2021 Digital Strategists

Tom Moylan, Communication Strategist at the Directorate-General for Communication at the European Commission, shares his personal reflections on EU digital communication. We discuss the value that social media can bring in communicating the European Union to citizens, as well as how EU institutions have evolved their communication strategy over time. Tom also shares his experiences as a speechwriter in EU trade policy, and how speech writing compares with social media communication. We also discuss current trends in EU institutional communication, and what lessons might be learned from coronavirus pandemic moving forward. 

Be sure to subscribe to Tom’s newsletter: Speaking Moylanguage! 

#124: Deliberation in Practice and Pandemics, with Ieva Česnulaitytė

April 18, 2021 Civil Society

Ieva Česnulaitytė, Policy Analyst at the OECD, discusses her and her colleagues’ research on representative deliberative processes. We break down some of the key models of deliberative processes, when they tend to be used, and how their success can be measured. 

We also discuss how the coronavirus pandemic has moved deliberative processes online. As social distancing limits the ability for citizens to attend in-person events, how are deliberative processes being carried out? 

Here’s the report we discuss in the episode – Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions: Catching the Deliberative Wave. 

 

And the op-ed in Nature discussing online deliberation during the pandemic.