Rebekah Green
rg487218@ohio.edu
Social media has completely shifted how advertisers can reach the consumer — it is more personalized and powerful than ever. It can be hard to escape the content being directed toward you, especially as it consumes your social feeds and email inbox on a daily basis. Political advertising is no exception, and as billions of dollars on spent annually in favor — or not in favor — of certain candidates or policies, it can have a powerful impact of which we should be aware.
Social media platforms use a technique called "microtargeting," according to the American Bar Association, which analyzes data, such as demographics, connections, purchasing history, of users to create groups that they can target with different marketing strategies and content. The level of personalization can lead to some concern because if users are only seeing content from a certain perspective, especially if an already extreme view, they are going to only grow those views much more strongly. Additionally, if the people that they are connected with are also only consuming similar material and sharing related posts, it contributes to the larger polarization of ideas that we see as a society.
From a Los Angeles Times interview with Daniel G. Newman, the president of MapLight, he says that "'For democracy to work, you need a common reality, which means a common understanding of who's saying what when ... But when politicians are saying different things to different audiences, even thousands of different small audiences, there's an inability to hold them accountable.'" It is especially an issue when phrases are edited and clips are taken out of context, ads can still be shared on platforms, such as Facebook. Not only can this lead to greater polarization and political outrage, but it also contributes to a spread of misinformation, which is already a major issue discussed in the journalism industry in recent times.
How do we combat the potential threats of microtargeting? While it is beneficial for candidates to get their name out there and share their message, there is a large gap in transparency and regulation in what is shared and the personal information analyzed for the user to be targeted with a given advertisement. Holding social media platforms accountable for sharing information in an ethical way could be an effective strategy for limiting the negative effects that microtargeting is contributing to in the political realm.
It will be interesting to see how political advertising will evolve in the future, as technology only advances. It is, therefore, important that citizens remain aware of the impact social media can have and seek out the truth in what they see and hear.
Hi Rebekah! I learned a lot from your blog. I have heard of targeted politicals on social media before, but I had not heard of the term micro-targeting. I agree that many internet users live in echo chambers; politicians exploit this to push their narratives and policies. This is why I think it is important to stress media literacy and consuming diverse news sources. When we (as constituents) only search for and recall information that supports our opinions and beliefs, that is not real research, it is confirmation bias. These strategies being used by politicians reinforce this idea and will most likely become a larger issue as politicians become younger and more tech-savvy.
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