Digital marketing is becoming more and more prevalent in modern political campaigns. Big data and information is the key to reaching the most potential voters as possible. Back in the day direct mail, in-person campaigning, tv ads, and radio spots were enough to get elected, but now social media and targeted adds is almost a necessity. With that being said there is still a question of privacy issues when it comes to these targeted ads.
Now campaigns can craft ads to send directly to voters that are tailored to the voter, with a person or message that they can personally identify with. A new service was launched called Xaxis Politics which uses metadata to segment potential voters into thousands of different subgroups to target voters directly through Google, AOL, etc. Many politicians chose to use this service for their most recent campaigns. We are entering an unprecedented time in politics with information thats never before been available and it makes sense for politicians to take advantage of everything at their disposal.
Social media is also very important in reaching voters. Campaigns have been using social media since the beginning of services such as myspace or Facebook. Now Twitter and Instagram are becoming important players as well. This is key for campaigns that want to mobilize large groups of young voters. Young people are more passionate than ever about political topics that they care about, so its important to harness that.
Questions:
Have you received targeted campaign ads?
Do you think privacy is a concern when it comes to targeted advertising?
What technology can campaigns use to further improve voter outreach?
Link:
https://policyreview.info/articles/analysis/role-digital-marketing-political-campaigns
I have recently received tons of targeted campaign ads, but more in the form of calls and text messages. Regardless, these campaigns are using my personal information to reach out and encourage me to vote for their party. I think this is a privacy concern because my personal data is being collected and used for advertising purposes. However, I do think that it is important for campaigners to use social media as an advertising platform in order to reach mass audiences. For example, during Obama's campaign, Facebook was heavily used to spread political messages and to encourage people to vote. This technique is still being used by political parties today.
ReplyDeleteRelated article: https://phys.org/news/2018-03-facebook-election-weapon-obama-trump.html
I do notice targeted political ads in my daily life. I do not believe it is the healthiest way of consuming information, as it could lead to certain bias. To avoid filter bubbles, companies like none other than Buzzfeed have tried rerouting people's digestion of politics. According to this NYT Article, "Escape Your Bubble, a plug-in that seeds your Facebook feed with opposing political views, goes a step further, repackaging partisan content with an aggressively positive affect. Each story appears with a pink heart icon and a banner that says: “Happily inserted by your EscapeYourBubble Chrome Extension :)"". I find it interesting this plugin labels personally curated articles for users so consumers will know where, and why the content ended up on their page. It allows a user to challenge and view another POV than their own when reading political news, and have a certain level of control over their content preferences.
ReplyDeleteIn reference to this article -- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/arts/the-battle-over-your-political-bubble.html
I had no idea Xaxis Politics existed but am not really surprised because I always wondered how ads were so accurately tailored to my personal beliefs. I believe there might be a privacy concern because this technology must collect a lot of data on me in order to predict my political preferences, which makes me a little nervous. I can't go on Facebook or Twitter without seeing a targeted political ad and find them to be somewhat concerning because it allows people to only hear what they want to hear rather than get a full picture. I understand why politicians want to use this technology but I feel that it gives them the opportunity to manipulate voters and tell their version of the truth. Although I do have my own specific beliefs, at the end of the day I want to see the truth and if technology is available that allows politicians to only include what is beneficial to them, I believe this will leave people ill-informed. I totally agree that social media is a powerful platform to spread a political message, I just feel that ads should not be targeted and that people of all political parties and beliefs should be able to see all ads, even those they don't support, just so they can get a full, accurate picture.
ReplyDeleteHi Ryan,
ReplyDeleteYes I've received numerous targeted ad campaigns. It can be extremely frustrating since they are providing biased information. I do believe that social media is a big part of politicians campaigns. It is the best way to reach and engage with millennials. I just read that in 2018 $1.8 billion was spent on digital and online ads, most of that going to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube. It's scary to think that political campaigns group us using Xaxis Politics then target us through these social media platforms.
https://www.ibj.com/articles/70545-political-campaigns-boost-investment-in-social-media-ads
I find this topic very interesting and controversial. Most people assume they own their social media, when in fact they do not. They are allowed to use the social media platform, for free, and the owners are allowed to sell your personal data to third party companies. The controversy of privacy came to a head during the Cambridge Analytica fiasco and posed the question, should we have control over our personal data on social media platforms?
ReplyDeleteFrom a business perspective, I believe consumers have the right to not use social media and avoid data collection. It is a choice individuals make to use a public platform and expect privacy. Targeted ad campaigns have to flirt the line between obvious ad placements and more subversive techniques, simply for that reason.
From the consumer perspective, consumers should have the ability to know where their data is going. In the age of massive data breaches and consumer fraud, it is more important than ever to protect your data. Allowing companies to share your data with whomever makes it very difficult to protect your data.
The problem really gets exaggerated in targeted ad campaigns. As our country becomes more polarized, it is easier to identify who identifies as a liberal, conservative, or somewhere in between. While it is very convenient to get ad campaigns that represent and support your political beliefs, it only polarizes voters more by solidifying ideals they already support and not introducing new and sometimes controversial ideals. In order to progress, we as a country need to experience challenging ideas and attack status-quo legislation. Sometimes that means going with what has worked in the past (conservative) and sometimes that means going with a new idea (liberal). Targeted ad campaigns are driving polarization in our nation and our citizens should have the ability to go beyond what social media deems fitting to our ideals. See attached article for more information.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/is_social_media_driving_political_polarization
Hi Ryan,
ReplyDeleteConsidering how important this next upcoming election is, i thought your post was an interesting read. i have received numerous texts addressed to me for elections, and although it annoys me and also concerns me that they have my information so easily, i do not necessarily think they have a way of manipulating my votes. just logically thinking, it would seem to me that politicians have their platforms and their points of views set in stone; they don't morph what they say to each voter because it would harm their campaign and make everything that much more confusing. although they are able to personally select which advertisements of their policies they think most pertain to you, it is not that they are changing the message of the advertisement itself to pertain to the viewer. in that sense, i believe that this merely a way for politicians to utilize the 21st century technology, to better reach the attention of America. due to the fact the last election had the least number of involved voters, i think this is a smart way of getting everyone in the States, to be more involved in using their rights and inputting those votes.
this link i found: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/sofas-ipads-campaign-workers-use-text-messages-reach-midterm-voters-n915786
emphasizes how the messages that are sent, even tho personalized with names, is still a generalized message. the real concern here is not the message itself, but the fact that people are able to find our names and phone numbers without it being against the law; this is a matter of privacy and maintaining respect for "no solicitation". This being said, I feel that this blog post should be not about targeted advertising, but about public information made available to everyone and anyone seeking it.
I definitely believe it can be useful to market through targeted ads in order to get a point across and increase awareness, however I think there is a point where public privacy is being violated and many companies have managed to reach that point. An example I thought of in regards to this topic is not political, but I think it is a good example of companies crossing the line just to advertise and make extra profit. Target, and possibly many other retailers, collect information about you overtime as you purchase goods from their store to learn more about their customer demographics along with other, more personal information about the customer. In 2012, a high-school girl was mailed coupons for baby clothes and cribs from Target, alerting the parents that she was possibly pregnant before she had told them. To analyze customer data to such an extreme point that the company can estimate a customer's due date is just one example of how powerful this information is and how it can be used to impact the public.
ReplyDeletelink: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/#3edcbe426668
I agree completely that social media is how politicians are getting more exposes to people especially the younger generation that uses all the different platforms so frequently. Personally, I have not been targeted by any politicians on social media as I'm not too political but I know many friends and family members who have been targeted. I don't believe privacy is a issue when it comes to targeting people as it's so common in society today as many people, companies, and organizations are targeting us based upon our search history. I think campaign committees will continue to target people through social media as well as through email if they can get a hold of people addresses who they know support them.
ReplyDeleteSocial media has changed how we get our information and has allowed for us to interact with people from everywhere around the world. Even today, one presidential candidate Andrew Yang is using social media as a platform to reach out to people that may not know him. The issue with people using social media as one's form of news and information is that we cannot verify the source sometimes. With the topic of fake news appearing to grow during election cycles. In one case, the city of Veles in Macedonia which became a hotspot for making directed articles which were completely fake. These articles would garner attention based on the headlines and click bait-y titles. They were able to get a lot of people following these articles based on a given location's demographics.
ReplyDeleteHeres the link for additional information: https://money.cnn.com/interactive/media/the-macedonia-story/