Tag: social media

Candidates Should Cater to Mothers by Focusing on AI and Social Media Issues

Buck Banks

“If any politician wants to get mothers on their side, they should adopt this issue. It’s such an obvious electoral winner. And what I’ve learned is there is no force in the universe stronger than mothers trying to protect their kids.”

— Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, quoted by Politico, on the threats posed by social media and artificial intelligence.

Elon Musk Continues to Prove He’s that Special Kind of Genius Who Isn’t One

Buck Banks

“One of the first things the Nazis did when they came in is they shut down all the press and any means of conveying information.”

— “Elon Musk said that X, his social media platform, could have saved Jews from the Holocaust after visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on Monday,” The Forward reports.

Bloomberg Spending $1 Million a Day on Facebook

Buck Banks

$1 million/day

“Mike Bloomberg is spending so much money on Facebook ads that he has surpassed President Trump, the reigning king of the social media realm,” NBC News reports. “Bloomberg spent more than $1 million a day on average over the past two weeks on Facebook. That’s five times more than Trump spent during the same period — and more than three times what Trump spent per day during his victorious fall 2016 campaign.”

Fight Fake News with Media Education

Buck Banks

The emergence of ‘fake news’ is a searing hot topic these days, as you’ve probably heard — a new, truth-free media to go with our new, truth-free politics…And the problem with cracking down on social media sites is that it’s a little like the war on drugs. You can try to stamp out the supply of garbage news, but the Web is a vast place, and as long as someone can make money off misinformation, it will always find a crack through which to seep…The answer doesn’t lie in hectoring tech companies into policing content, but rather in teaching our kids how to consume it. … Here’s a radical thought: If President Trump is looking for a bold and useful education initiative that might serve the incidental purpose of redeeming what’s left of his soul, media literacy would be a pretty good place to start.

— Matt Bai

Fake News Out-Performed Real News in Election Run-Up

Buck Banks

8,711,000

Number of shares, reactions and comments generated on Facebook by 20 top-performing false election stories from hoax sites and hyperpartisan blogs. “In the final three months of the US presidential campaign, the top-performing fake election news stories on Facebook generated more engagement than the top stories from major news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, NBC News and others,” a BuzzFeed News analysis found.

Social Media Influences Elections

Buck Banks

20%

Of social-media users modified their stance on a political or social issue because of something they saw posted to social media, according to a report from Pew Research. Additionally, 17% reported that social media helped alter their perspective on a specific candidate. Democrats were found to be more likely than Republicans to say that they changed their views because of social media.

Prez Candidates Use Social Media to Prove They Have Personalities

Buck Banks

For many would-be presidential candidates, Twitter and other social-media outlets have become an extension of their efforts to build a national following, and in many cases a way to mix personality with policy. Social media comes with a host of dangers, but for candidates, it can be a powerful tool to attract attention and engage voters.

— Wall Street Journal