Social Media and Politics

Latest Episodes:

Political Voiceovers for Democratic Campaigns, with Maria Pendolino and Ian Fishman May 10, 2020

Show notes

Maria and Ian are co-founders of Blue Wave Voiceover, a collective of professional voiceover actors lending their voices to Democratic campaigns. We discuss the role of voices in political ads, the back-end of reading political copy, and some of the differences between commercial and political voiceovers. We also demo the script reading process with real political ads, and change their tone to showcase what voiceover actors can do!

Here's the final version of the ads we discuss in the episode:
Mike Bloomberg | Ellen Lipton

Health Misinformation Correction on Social Media, with Dr. Leticia Bode Apr 26, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Leticia Bode, Associate Professor at Georgetown University, discusses her research on social media and health misinformation correction. We break down several experiments that test the effectiveness of digital misinformation correction in the context of the Zika virus. We also talk about what the findings might mean for public health organizations' social media strategy in times of crisis. Towards the end, we also look at some of Dr. Bode's ongoing research investigating the coronavirus conversation on Twitter.

The studies we discuss in this episode are:

Online Engagement and Digital Campaigning for Pete Buttigieg, with Stefan Smith Apr 12, 2020

Show notes

Stefan Smith, former Online Engagement Director at Pete for America, discusses the role of social media in digital organizing and campaigning during the 2020 Democratic Primaries. We break down two of Stefan's grassroots initiatives -- the Digital Captains program and Digital Door Knocking program -- and how they contributed to the overall campaign. We also talk about the political viability of Pinterest and Reddit, alongside more traditional platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

What American History Teaches us about Political Communication, with Dr. Ben Epstein Mar 29, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Ben Epstein, Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul University, guests to discuss the role of history in understanding contemporary political communication.

We take a deep dive in Dr. Epstein's book The Only Constant is Change: Technology, Political Communication, and Innovation over Time, published by Oxford University Press.

Dr. Epstein explains how the development of newspapers, the radio, and Internet fundamentally changed political communication practices for political campagins, social movements, and interest groups. We then discuss how television and social media were novel technologies for their time, but did not fundamentally establish new political communication orders.

House of Lords Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee, with Lord David Puttnam and Dr. Kate Dommett Mar 15, 2020

Show notes

Lord David Puttnam and Dr. Kate Dommett guest to discuss the work on the British House of Lords select committee "Democracy and Digital Technologies."

The committee seeks to investigate the pros and cons of digital technologies around six key areas: transparency in political campaigns; privacy and anonymity; misinformation; the effects of digital technology on public discourse; how technology can facilitate democracy; and the development of effective digital literacy.

We discuss the motivations behind forming the committee, the status of the inquiry so far, as well as get into a broader discussion about policy recommendations for the potential regulation of digital and social media companies in the UK and elsewhere in the European Union.

For links mentioned during the episode, check out:

The website of the committee, and follow their latest updates on Twitter @HLDemoDigital.

Dr. Dommett's study "Data-driven Political Campaigns in Practice" in Internet Policy Review.

Video Search Engines and Petey Vid as an Alternative to Google Video Search, with Craig Stadler Mar 01, 2020

Show notes

Craig Stadler, Founder and CEO of Petey Vid, guests to discuss the video search engine landscape and his alternative to the dominance of Google and YouTube: Petey Vid. Petey Vid offers users video content from 60+ different sources while not tracking users’ search history or IP addresses. We break down Craig’s motivations behind starting Petey Vid, how it’s search architecture is structured, and what separates it from YouTube.

Content Moderation and the Politics of Social Media Platforms, with Dr. Tarleton Gillespie Feb 16, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Tarleton Gillespie, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and Associate Professor of Communication at Cornell University, guests for our 100th episode!

We revisit Dr. Gillespie's 2010 study "The Politics of Platforms" as well as discuss his latest book: "Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions that Shape Social Media."

We discuss how social media companies strategically position themselves through discourse, the early adoption of social media by advertisers and political campaigns, and how content moderation shapes our interactions with platforms and politics.

Information Gerrymandering on Social Networks, with Dr. Alexander Stewart Jan 26, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Alexander Stewart, Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Houston, guests to discuss his research on "information gerrymandering," recently published in Nature. The study uses a voter game, mathematical modelling, social media data, and legislative data to examine how information asymmetries in social networks impact collective decision-making processes. We break down the study, and the implications of its findings for democracy.

Read the full study, and check out the video showing information gerrymandering in action!

Political Mobilization in the 2019 EU Election Campaign, with Stephen Clark Jan 12, 2020

Show notes

Stephen Clark, Director for Liaison Offices at the European Parliament, guests to discuss his role coordinating the Parliament's election campaign in the 2019 European Elections. We discuss the Parliament's social media strategy, its focus on mobilizing citizens through the "ground game," and the reaction to the Parliament's campaign video "Choose your Future."

Listen to Steve discuss the Parliament's strategy before the elections on the EuroPCom podcast!

2019 Year in Review, with Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten Dec 23, 2019

Show notes

The 2019 Year in Review! We break down the top trends and developments of this year and look forward to the decade ahead. We talk about the posts that garnered the most engagement on platforms like Twitter, Reddit, and Pornhub (no Facebook this year), look into the growing importance of TikTok, and chat about digital taxation, Epstein, and so much more. Tune in!

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