Social Media and Politics

Jakub Szymik, Founder of CEE Digital Democracy Watch, discusses the EU's ongoing initiatives to fight disinformation, regulate political advertising, and protect election integrity on social media. Jakub shares his insights on the Digital Services Act, the European Democracy Shield, and how these initiatives relate to digital political advertising on social media. We also discuss the latest Polish Presidential elections in terms of digital ad spending, Gen AI content, and political influencers. Links: CEE Digital Democracy Watch has just published a new report outlining how 60 stakeholder from CEE countries perceive the effectiveness of EU tech regulation and what challenges remain moving forward. Read more about CEE Digital Democracy Watch's proposed policy actions for the European Democracy Shield, including the disinformation monitoring service mentioned in the episode.

Dan Brahmy, Co-Founder and CEO at Cyabra, discusses the cutting-edge in disinformation monitoring. Dan shares some of Cyabra's work around the new pope, the tariff war, and narratives following the Trump assassination attempt. We discuss how monitoring works technically, what type of attributes are used to classify accounts as inauthentic, and how source attribution can be identified through patterns. Special thanks to Jill Burkes, PR and Communications lead at Cyabra, for setting up and contributing to the episode! Here's the link to Cyabra's newsletter.

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.

Neil Brown, President of the Poytner Institute for Media Studies, discusses the challenges facing journalism. We discuss the concept of media trust, changing revenue models, and the challenges for journalism posed by digital fragmentation. Neil also shares his thoughts on fact-checking and Politifact.com, and we end with a discussion of AI's implications for journalism.

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.

Doug Kaplan, President of Kaplan Strategies, discusses the utility of political polling for local, state, and national races. We discuss the value of polls when partisanship is high, the changing political communication landscape, and Florida as a Republican stronghold (for now).

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)

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! Platform Reports: Meta TikTok Snap Pinterest Twitch Google Pornhub

Ryan Davis, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at People First, guests for a debrief on content creators in the 2024 US election. We discuss content creator strategies between the two parties, how influencers have become professionalized, and what this means for communications and elections going forward. Advertising, authenticity, and power flows are constantly in flux in this environment, and the very conceptions of old and new media are being challenged. A space to watch! Check out People First's Substack to keep in the loop, and Ryan's Travel Podcast just for fun :)

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)

Kindred Motes, Founder and Managing Partner at KM Strategies Group (KMSG), shares his advocacy work to counter the online reach of Project 2025. Working with the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, KMSG launched a paid campaign on Google Search before Project 2025 became mainstream. Kindred shares how TikTok played a role in catalyzing Project 2025 as a political issue, as well as some of the challenges that nonprofits face in running digital ad campaigns. We also discuss the benefits and trade-offs of social media for advocacy work, and end with some practical tips for how nonprofits can effectively communicate in today's fragmented media landscape.

Prof. Sebastian Stier, Scientific Director of Computational Social Science at GESIS and Professor of CSS at the University of Mannheim, discusses how web tracking data can inform social science questions. We discuss the data structure of web browsing data, how it is collected, and the types of incentives used to recruit participants. Prof. Stier also shares his insights and research integrating web browsing data with survey data, as well as how LLMs are opening up new methodological avenues in simulated data. Here are the resources mentioned in the episode: Analysis of Web Browsing Data: A Guide (2023) Integrating Survey Data and Digital Trace Data: Key Issues in Developing an Emerging Field (2020) Post Post-Broadcast Democracy? News Exposure in the Age of Online Intermediaries (2022) The two R packages: webtrackR and adaR

Ryan Davis, Co-Founder of People First, discusses how "micro-influencers" or "micro-creators" are being used in political campaigns. We discuss the benefits of using micro-influencers for engagement, as well as how they can be used to target specific blocks of voters. Ryan also shares how these creators can inform the political strategy of campaigns through panels and focus groups, and how the comments to creators' content can reveal themes and sentiments important for the campaign. Here's a list of resources on micro-influencers written by Ryan and People First: White paper on micro-influencers 2024 election guide on micro-influencers In-and-outs of influencer outreach An overview of influencer trends

Dr. Eviane Leidig, Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at Tilburg University, discusses her book "The Women of the Far Right: Social Media Influencers and Online Radicalization." We break down the role of social media for the alt-right movement, and how platforms like Instagram and YouTube work to mainstream extremist views. These insights come from Dr. Leidig's research conducting digital ethnography on women influencers prominent on the American Right.

Rhiannon Ruff, Wikipedia Expert and Founding Partner at Lumino, discusses how politicians and brands can effectively manage their Wikipedia presence. We discuss why Wikipedia is important for Google Search and AI like ChatGPT, and how the tone, norms, and editors of Wikipedia make editing your own page difficult. Rhi shares her tips on how to manage a Wikipedia page in the right way, and why that's crucial for politicians and political parties. Here's a list of links discussed in the episode: Rhi's book on Wikipedia and Crisis Communications Rhi's column on Why Wikipedia can be a PR Problem for Political Campaigns Stanford Internet Observatory Report on Wikipedia and Elections in British Columbia A bit more on the infamous Alan MacMasters!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.