Social Media and Politics artwork

Social Media and Politics

179 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 24 ratings

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.

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Episodes

Wikipedia Public Relations for Politics, Brands, and Crisis Communication, with Rhiannon Ruff

March 24, 2024 08:00 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MB

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 episo...

Race, Racism, and Resistance on Social Media, with Dr. Rob Eschmann

February 25, 2024 08:00 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MB

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...

Data-Driven Campaigning: How Political Campaigns use Data, Analytics, and Technology, with Prof. Kate Dommett and Dr. Simon Kruschinski

February 11, 2024 08:00 - 50 minutes - 46.2 MB

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. K...

Data-Driven Campaigning: How Political Campaigns use Data, Analytics, and Technology

February 11, 2024 08:00 - 50 minutes - 46.2 MB

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. K...

China's Digital Strategy for Information Control, with Dr. Andrew MacDonald

January 28, 2024 08:00 - 44 minutes - 40.8 MB

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 ...

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

December 23, 2023 08:00 - 1 hour - 88.8 MB

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  

Democracy, Architecture, and Social Media, with Dr. Jennifer Forestal

October 22, 2023 07:00 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MB

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, d...

Covid Vaccine Hesitancy in Sweden, with Dr. Mia-Marie Hammarlin

October 08, 2023 07:00 - 46 minutes - 42.5 MB

Dr. Mia-Marie Hammarlin, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Lund University, shares her research on vaccine hesitancy in Sweden. We discuss the major themes of coronavirus vaccine skepticism on the Swedish online forum Flashback, as well as Dr. Hammarlin's ethnographic research meeting with vaccine hesitant communities.  Here are links to Dr. Hammarlin's research mentioned in the episode: COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Matters of Life and Death (202...

Political Persuasion and the Effects of Targeted Social Media Ads, with Dr. Alexander Coppock

September 24, 2023 07:00 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MB

Dr. Alexander Coppock, Associate Professor of Political Science at Yale University, shares his research on measuring the political effects of persuasive information. We discuss how political persuasion affects voters holding different viewpoints, the durability of these effects over time, and how much political ads seem to affect voters' political attitudes.  Here are Dr. Coppock's research studies discussed in the episode:  Persuasion in Parallel: How Information Changes Minds about Polit...

Cross-Cutting Expression on Social Media: Brexit on Facebook, with Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten

September 03, 2023 07:00 - 58 minutes - 53.2 MB

Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten, Associate Professor in Strategic Communication at Lund University, joins a discussion of cross-cutting expression and its implications for digital campaigning on Facebook. On the theory side, we discuss concepts of online self-expression and cross-pressures. We also discuss how political ideology can be inferred from Facebook reactions such as 'likes' and 'loves'. Finally, we discuss what topic models of the Brexit debate around Facebook can reveal about how an...

Negative Campaigning on Facebook in EU Elections, Cross-Platform Extremism, and Dissonant Public Spheres, with Prof. Ulrike Klinger

July 02, 2023 07:00 - 48 minutes - 44.7 MB

Prof. Ulrike Klinger, Professor for Digital Democracy at the European New School for Digital Studies at European University Viadrina, shares her latest research on negative campaigning on social media. We discuss some of the challenges in studying digital communication in the EU, as well as what explains a rise in negative campaigning across two European Parliament elections. Prof. Klinger also shares her research on the UN Global Compact for Migration, where extremist ideas from the Identit...

Connecting Social Media Influencers with Political Campaigns, with Zach Fang

June 18, 2023 07:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MB

Zach Fang, Head of Sales and Business Development at Vocal Media, shares how the start-up is building a database of social media influencers to connect with political campaigns and organizations. We discuss what makes TikTok influencers a different type of political advertising and how their costs stack up to traditional broadcast and social media. Zach also shares what's happening with influencers on Twitch, Discord, and YouTube shorts, and how influencers may turn from awareness raising to...

Digital Media Trends in American Political Campaigns, with Russell Mindich

May 21, 2023 07:00 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MB

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.  Here's a link to the Analyst Institute, mentioned in the episode. 

Social Media, Democracy, and National Security, with Jenny Reich

March 19, 2023 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.2 MB

Jenny Reich, Fellow at the Georgetown Law Center on National Security, discusses the Center's recent report entitled Social Media: The Canary in the Coal Mine. We dive into the potential security risks posed by digital technology developments as well as the report's recommendations for addressing them at the levels of government, the tech industry, and civil society. The report brings together various stakeholders to shed insight on the core democratic values of the United States, the major ...

Progressive Big Tech Regulation and Advocacy, with Adam Kovacevich

February 05, 2023 08:00 - 39 minutes - 36 MB

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 pres...

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

January 22, 2023 08:00 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MB

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 a...

Digital Political Advertising Beyond Social Media, with Megan Clasen

January 08, 2023 08:00 - 52 minutes - 47.7 MB

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! 

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

December 23, 2022 08:00 - 3 hours - 189 MB

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 Sn...

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

December 11, 2022 08:00 - 38 minutes - 35 MB

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. Here are the studies we discuss in the episode: The Janus face of social media and democracy? Reflections ...

Data-driven Campaigning with Polling and Focus Groups in American Elections, with Zac McCrary

October 30, 2022 08:00 - 1 hour - 57.4 MB

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. 

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

October 16, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 56.1 MB

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 fre...

Data Journalism to Report Social Media and Politics, with Aleszu Bajak

October 01, 2022 07:00 - 51 minutes - 47.6 MB

Aleszu Bajak, Senior Data Reporter at USA Today, discusses his reporting on social media and politics using computational methods. We talk about the types of data that data journalists are working with, how they acquire it (e.g., Freedom of Information Requests), and how they approach reporting results in a way that tells an engaging story. We also dive into some of Aleszu's recent reporting, such as Parler reactions to Donald Trump's speech on January 6th, inequalities in Covid vaccinations...

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

September 11, 2022 07:00 - 45 minutes - 42 MB

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 ...

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

September 04, 2022 07:00 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MB

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. 

Machine Learning the Facebook URLs Dataset to Study News Credibility, with Dr. Tom Paskhalis

August 21, 2022 07:00 - 42 minutes - 39.2 MB

Dr. Tom Paskhalis, Assistant Professor in Political and Data Science at Trinity College Dublin, shares his research on applying machine learning to the Facebook URLs Dataset from Social Science One. The project develops a model to label whether a news domain is credible or not based on Facebook interactions data. We discuss the Facebook URLs dataset, what types of machine learning techniques were applied to it, and how the model performed across the US and EU countries. 

Anti-Immigration YouTube Videos: Tactics and Narratives, with Shauna Siggelkow

August 07, 2022 07:00 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MB

Shauna Siggelkow, Director of Digital Storytelling at Define American, discusses a new report on anti-immigration YouTube videos: 'Immigration will Destroy Us and Other Talking Points.' We break down the report, which identifies a network of viral YouTube videos promoting narratives associated with the Great Replacement Theory. Shauna also shares findings from experiments that test how different genres, animation styles, and messengers can effectively communicate political issues.  Check o...

Social Media Influencers and Politics, Environmental Behavior, and Covid Misinformation, with Dr. Desirée Schmuck

June 19, 2022 07:00 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MB

Dr. Desirée Schmuck, Assistant Professor at the Department of Mass Communication at KU Leuven, shares her research on social media influencers and their effects on users' political attitudes and behavior. We break down three of Dr. Schmuck's studies. The first focuses on how exposure to political influencer content affects young social media users' behavior, both in terms of formal electoral participation and environmental sustainability. The second examines how influencers might affect user...

Political Tech Incubators in American Digital Campaigning, with Eric Wilson

May 29, 2022 07:00 - 33 minutes - 30.8 MB

Eric Wilson, Managing Partner at Startup Caucus and Host of The Business of Politics Show, discusses political tech incubators and their emerging role in US digital campaigning. We chat about how the Republican and Democratic Party need different tech solutions for different campaigning styles, the need for start-up campaigning firms, and the potential impact of Web3 on future political campaigns.  Here's the link to Eric's blog post on Web3.  Subscribe to The Business of Politics Show! 

Technology Disruption, Democracy, and Principled Platform Regulation, with Prof. Lance Bennett

May 15, 2022 07:00 - 42 minutes - 39.1 MB

Prof. Lance Bennett, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Communication at the University of Washington, discusses the types of principled values that should guide platform regulation. We reflect on the disruptive ethos of tech companies and what that means for democracy. We also discuss theories of capitalism, recent changes in data privacy and third-party tracking, as well as the connection between digital technologies and protest parties.  The article we discuss in the episode is ...

Challenging Covid Vaccine Misinformation on Private Social Media, with Prof. Andrew Chadwick

May 01, 2022 07:00 - 58 minutes - 53.4 MB

Prof. Andrew Chadwick, Professor of Communication at Loughborough University, shares insights from his new public research report: Covid Vaccines and Online Personal Messaging: The Challenge of Challenging Everyday Misinformation. The report explores how British citizens use private social messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and in particular how they experience and engage with coronavirus misinformation across private group chats on these platforms. We discuss the hybrid ch...

Comparing Digital Political Communication across Countries and Time, with Prof. Anders Olof Larsson

April 24, 2022 07:00 - 43 minutes - 40 MB

Prof. Anders Olof Larsson, Professor of Communication at Kristiania University College, shares his comparative social media research on party communication. We start out with a macro-level look at political parties' adoption of Facebook and Instagram across Europe, before focusing more specifically on Scandinavia. Prof. Larsson discusses the pros and cons of political merch contests in driving engagement, and how hashtag network structures have evolved over time on Facebook and Instagram in ...

Rating News Credibility with Algorithms, with Arjun Moorthy

April 17, 2022 07:00 - 56 minutes - 52 MB

Arjun Moorthy, co-founder and CEO of The Factual, discusses how machine learning and natural language processing can rank news for credibility. Arjun breaks down the criteria underpinning The Factual's rating system as well as how it tries to minimize bias. We talk about some of the pitfalls of optimizing news for engagement, as well as how anonymity in a different incentive structure affects discourse around discussing news. Towards the end of the episode, we discuss the current state of AI...

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

March 27, 2022 07:00 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MB

Prof. 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...

Political Leader Evaluations on Instagram and Emotions in Covid Crisis Communication, with Dr. Jenny Lindholm

February 27, 2022 08:00 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MB

Dr. Jenny Lindholm, University Teacher and Researcher in Political Science, Media, and Communication at Åbo Akademi University, discusses her research on visual political communication. First, we break down Dr. Lindholm's eye-tracking experiment on how party leaders' Instagram photos affect viewers' trait perceptions of leaders. The focus is on where viewers of these images give their visual attention, and whether that differs across public versus private photos as well as the gender of part...

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

February 13, 2022 08:00 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MB

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 th...

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

December 22, 2021 07:00 - 3 hours - 194 MB

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 ...

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

November 28, 2021 08:00 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MB

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 positi...

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

November 14, 2021 08:00 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MB

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 li...

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

October 24, 2021 07:00 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MB

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 ...

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

October 10, 2021 07:00 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MB

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 electi...

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

September 26, 2021 07:00 - 43 minutes - 39.8 MB

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 p...

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

August 15, 2021 07:00 - 49 minutes - 45.6 MB

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 mi...

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

August 15, 2021 07:00 - 49 minutes - 45.6 MB

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 mi...

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

August 15, 2021 07:00 - 49 minutes - 45.6 MB

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 mi...

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

July 04, 2021 07:00 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MB

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!

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

June 27, 2021 07:00 - 1 hour - 57.2 MB

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 experience...

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

June 13, 2021 07:00 - 48 minutes - 44.2 MB

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 ...

Social Media Communication in the EU, with Tom Moylan

June 04, 2021 06:00 - 43 minutes - 40.3 MB

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 ...

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

May 16, 2021 07:00 - 42 minutes - 38.9 MB

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 an...

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

May 02, 2021 07:00 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MB

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 te...

Guests

Bruce Schneier
1 Episode
Jonathan Barnes
1 Episode
Pete Buttigieg
1 Episode

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