Tatenda Musapatike, Founder and CEO of the Voter Formation Project, shares her insights on using social media to mobilize non-white voters. In her prior role at Acronym, Tatenda led the Expand the Electorate project, which used digital ads to register and mobilize Black and Latinx voters in 8 target states. In this episode, we discuss the results of Tatenda's work in the 2020 US election, the racial biases in data and targeting technologies, and how gender differences between Black voters might be overcome in future electoral cycles. Here's the case study from the Expand the Electorate project and more detailed white paper (requires email sign-up) - definitely worth a read! 

Social Media and Politics

Digital Ads for Registering and Mobilizing Black and Hispanic Voters, with Tatenda Musapatike

Dr. Jakob Ohme, Senior Researcher at the Weizenbaum Institute, discusses his research on mobile news consumption. Dr. Ohme breaks down how exposure to political news on a smartphone might differ from a desktop, and he breaks down results from a recent eye-tracking study exploring the topic. We also discuss how smartphones can be used for data collection, through Dr. Ohme's research using a smartphone media diary as well as data from the iOS Screen Time function. The studies discussed in the episode are: Mobile News Learning: Investigating Political Knowledge Gains in a Social Media Newsfeed with Mobile Eye Tracking (2021)Mobile Data Donations: Assessing Self-report Accuracy and Sample Biases with the iOS Screen Time Function (2020)Mobile but Not Mobilized? Differential Gains from Mobile News Consumption for Citizens’ Political Knowledge and Campaign Participation (2020)

Mobile News Consumption: How Smartphone News Exposure Affects Political Knowledge, with Dr. Jakob Ohme

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 ReportGoogle Year in SearchTiktok Cultural PhenomenonsPinterest PredictsReddit RecapSnap Lens on the YearTwitter #OnlyOnTwitterArticle with chart on social media's impact on democracyThe greatest newsletter of all-time See you in January for new episodes! 

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

Dr. Curd Knüpfer (Assistant Professor) and Mike Cowburn (PhD Candidate), from the JFK Institute for North American Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, discuss their research on right-wing alternative media. We start out by discussing what right-wing alternative media are, and how they are transnationally linked across Western democracies. Then, we explore Mike and Curd's ongoing work into how Members of Congress' social media engagement with these sites may be predictors of political positionality. We also look at how Republican Members of Congress' use of the fake news label also relates to their political ideology. The (published) studies discussed in the episode are: Beyond Breitbart: Comparing Right-Wing Digital News Infrastructures in Six Western DemocraciesToward a Transnational Information Ecology on the Right? Hyperlink Networking among Right-Wing Digital News Sites in Europe and the United StatesLegislator Adoption of the Fake News Label: Ideological Differences in Republican Representative Use on Twitter

Right-Wing Alternative Media and Republican Party Social Media Engagement, with Dr. Curd Knüpfer and Mike Cowburn

Juri Schnöller, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Cosmonauts & Kings, discusses the latest trends in German digital political communication. We chat about the role of digital political consultants in Germany, the important role of messenger apps like Signal and Telegram, and how social media influencers are impacting coronavirus communication. We also compare how features of the German electoral rules, political culture, and media system work to shape German digital campaigning. Extra links: Public Arena Playbook: Juri's Handbook for Digital Political CommunicationCivical: A Social Media Management Software for Politics 

Digital Political Communication and Social Media Campaigning in Germany, with Juri Schnöller

Dr. Tamar Mitts, Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, shares her research on ISIS radicalization and it's relationship to social isolation, anti-Muslim sentiment, and counter-extremism programs. We discuss Dr. Mitts' Twitter dataset that uses spatial algorithms to identify ISIS sympathizers' locations and machine learning to identify pro-ISIS sentiment. Toward the end of the episode, we discuss how computer vision tools such as Amazon's Rekognition API can be used to detect violent imagery in ISIS propaganda. Here are the studies we discuss in the episode: From Isolation to Radicalization: Anti-Muslim Hostility and Support for ISIS in the West  (2019)Countering Violent Extremism and Radical Rhetoric (2021)Studying the Impact of ISIS Propaganda Campaigns (Forthcoming)

ISIS Radicalization, Counter-Extremism, and Visual Propaganda on Social Media, with Dr. Tamar Mitts

Dr. Mirya Holman, Associate Professor of Political Science at Tulane University, shares her latest research on how politicians depict mask wearing through their social media images. We discuss how computer vision can be used to detect masks in images, as well as what factors correlate with politicians' depicting masks. Later in the episode, we discuss another recent study by Dr. Holman, where emotions in the facial expressions and vocal pitch of German politicians were analyzed during election debates. Here's a link to that study: Gender, Candidate Emotional Expression, and Voter Reactions during Televised Debates (2021)And here's a link to Mirya Holman's Aggressive Winning Scholars (#MHAWS) Newsletter! 

Covid Mask Wearing in Politicians' Social Media Images and Emotions in German Politics, with Dr. Mirya Holman

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)

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

Baroness Beeban Kidron, Chair of the 5Rights Foundation, guests to discuss the recently launched Twisted Toys campaign. We chat about the role of awareness campaigns for tech advocacy, how policymakers respond to children's data protection issues, and the creative design process behind the Twisted Toys campaign.Check out Twisted Toys here!

Tech Advocacy for Children's Digital Rights and the Twisted Toys Campaign, with Baroness Beeban Kidron

Andrew Frawley, former Director of Marketing at Yang2020, shares his experience running marketing and digital strategy for Andrew Yang's 2020 campaign. Andrew discusses the role of social media for outsider campaigns, challenges in establishing growth on social media, and the role of podcasts for political campaigns. We also discuss campaign slogans, differences between outsider and mainstream campaigns, and Facebook groups as organizing hubs. Check out Andrew's website for more experiences from the campaign! 

Political Marketing, Digital Strategy, and Social Media for the Andrew Yang 2020 Campaign, with Andrew Frawley

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! 

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

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! 

Social Media Communication in the EU, with Tom Moylan

Jeffrey Alexander, Professor of Sociology at Yale University, discusses his cultural sociology approach to political performance and cultural icons. We start out with the concept of fusion, and how political actors work to achieve it through the elements of political performance. Then, we turn to a discussion of objects, affordances, and the power of political icons. Here's some extra reading on the topics we cover in the episode: Cultural Pragmatics: Social Performance Between Ritual and Strategy (2004)The Performativity of Objects (2020)

The Cultural Sociology of Political Performance, Icons, and Social Media, with Prof. Jeffrey Alexander

Dr. Jean-Christophe Plantin, Associate Professor in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics, explains the concept of media infrastructures. We discuss Dr. Plantin's research on digital platforms, infrastructures, and how tech giants like Facebook and Google increasingly blend those two concepts. We also discuss the infrastructure of WeChat, and get into Dr. Plantin's ongoing work into the concept of programmable infrastructures - which explores how the hardware of the tech industry is becoming increasingly disagreggated and modular. Check out Dr. Plantin's recent talk at Sciences Po for more details on programmable infrastructures. And the articles we discuss in the episode: Digital Media Infrastructures: Pipes, Platforms, and Politics (2018)Infrastructure Studies Meet Platform Studies in the Age of Google and Facebook (2018)WeChat as Infrastructure: The Techno-Nationalist Shaping of Chinese Digital Platforms (2019) 

Digital Media Infrastructures and Tech Platforms, with Dr. Jean-Christophe Plantin

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. 

Deliberation in Practice and Pandemics, with Ieva Česnulaitytė

Social Media and Politics is a podcast bringing you innovative, first-hand insights into how social media is changing the political game. Subscribe for interviews and analysis with politicians, academics, and leading digital strategists to get their take on how social media influences the ways we engage with politics and democracy. Social Media and Politics is hosted by Michael Bossetta, political scientist at Lund University. Check out the podcast's official website: https://socialmediaandpolitics.org.

Digital Ads for Registering and Mobilizing Black and Hispani...