Social Media and Politics Folgen

Madeline V. Twomey, President at Rufus and Mane, discusses how social media influencers can benefit political campaigns (and vice versa). Madeline forged digital influencer partnerships for Joe Biden's presidential campaign and inauguration. She shares her experiences working with influencer programs and her thoughts on best practices moving forward.We talk about the value that influencers can provide to campaigns, how their working relationship looks like in practice, and how storytelling can help non-political influencers break into politicsHere's Madeline's Medium post discussing her 10 lessons from the Biden campaign. Check out the latest newsletter, if you're curious about what's coming next on the pod!

Dr. Tamara A. Small, Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Guelph, discusses her research on social media and politics in Canada. We start out with her latest edited volume Digital Politics in Canada: Promises and Realities (2020, University of Toronto Press). We then dive into Dr. Small's research on Canadian party leaders'  use of Twitter, citizens' sharing of memes about Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau, and how Canadian courts use social media. We also cover how journalists live-tweet about court cases, and the Canadian courts' struggle to adapt during Covid-19. Here's the full list of studies discused in the episode: Digital Politics in Canada: Promises and Realities (2020)What the Hashtag? A Content Analysis of Canadian Politics on Twitter (2011)Online Negativity in Canada: Do Canadian Party Leaders Attack on Twitter? (2018)Trolling Stephen Harper: Internet Memes as Online Activism (2019)“Justin Trudeau – I Don’t Know Her”: An Analysis of Leadership Memes of Justin Trudeau (2020)Tweet Justice: The Canadian Court’s Use of Social Media (2020)Play-by-Play Justice: Tweeting Criminal Trials in the Digital Age (2020)Trial by Zoom? The Response to COVID-19 by Canada's Courts (2020)  

Martin Hilbert, Professor of Communication at UC-Davis, discusses his research on algorithms and polarization. Prof. Hilbert introduces information theory and how it can be applied to studying the transfer of emotions via algorithms. We break down some of Prof. Hilbert's recent studies, as well as his current thinking around detaching from social algorithms.The studies discussed in the episode:Behavioral Experiments With Social Algorithms: An Information Theoretic Approach to Input-Output ConversionsDo Search Algorithms Endanger Democracy? An Experimental Investigation of Algorithm Effects on Political PolarizationCommunicating with Algorithms: A Transfer Entropy Analysis of Emotions-based Escapes from Online Echo ChambersProf. Hilbert's seven part Medium series on Social Media Distancing.