LTO Links #316

Next Frontier: Monitoring Campaign Texts

I'll soon be migrating the Learn Test Optimize newsletter to Beehiiv from Mailchimp and I'll need your help to maintain deliverability and inbox placement. 

To ensure you're opted-in on the new platform,

Learn. Test. Optimize.

Issue #316 |  

Advertising

Incorporating Props & Symbols Into TV Ads – Casey Phillips (Hereford Agency)

"Our guest today is Casey Phillips, principal at the Hereford Agency. He’s written and produced more than a thousand political television and radio ads across all 50 states. He’s worked at the NRCC and RLSC and serves as a general consultant on campaigns. He’s also written and produced a feature documentary called “Win, Lose, or Draw Straws” about the way different ties are resolved in elections. We talk about what goes into an effective TV ad, what it takes to cut through the noise in today’s crowded media landscape, and what happens in the final weeks of a campaign."

Campaigns

The Power of Yard Signs in a Digital Age with Scott Minkoff SUNY New Paltz

"Scott Minkoff is an Associate Professor of Political Science at SUNY New Paltz and a co-author of Politics on Display: Yard Signs and the Politicization of Social Spaces. Taking a step back from focusing on virtual social interaction, Scott recognizes the impact of out-of-home campaign messaging, particularly yard signs for persuasion and increasing voter turnout."

Doctored videos exaggerate Fetterman speech issues in viral social media posts

"The videos include slight edits, such as cutting out the sound of the audience to make it appear as if he had abruptly stopped speaking (some of the stops occurred when he was pausing during moments of applause and crowd reaction, according to unedited videos seen by NBC News). Other edits cut Fetterman off midsentence, to create the perception that what he was saying was nonsensical."

Disinformation

Disinformation via text message is a problem with few answers

"But there is no company or regulatory agency that monitors the contents of all of the billions of text messages that are sent every day. American phone carriers employ some anti-spam measures, but they’re clearly limited: More Americans are filing complaints about spam and scam text messages with the Federal Trade Commission this year than ever before, an agency spokesperson told NBC News, and 2022 is likely to be the first year where they outpace complaints about phone calls."

International

Swedish election – snap analysis

"The Socialists excluded people with an interest in the stock market from 40% of their ads and a third of their ads were not shown to people interested in “golf”.

"They also tried to avoid people with interests in more expensive outdoor sports (sailing, windsurfing, 4x4s), though also managed to accidentally exclude people with an interest in “Marathon (Greece)”"

Social Media

'Hope' is out, 'fight' is in: Does tweeting divide Congress, or simply echo its divisions?

"Today, a majority of congressional Twitter accounts post nearly every day. Posts with the most provocative, emotionally-charged messages tend to accumulate more likes and retweets – metrics many of the people who manage congressional Twitter accounts undoubtedly track. This, in turn, incentivizes members of Congress to take increasingly extreme positions on Twitter."

How Memes Led to an Insurrection

"In the politics of the 21st century, political memes are some of the most powerful tools a person or group can use to spread their message. Memes like “Make America great again” helped bring Elizabeth to D.C. in the first place, as did memes like “1776!,” which people had been sharing as hashtags and chanting at rallies to indicate that this January day was, as Elizabeth had said, a revolution. Amid the chaos, flags told the story. As Elizabeth cried into the camera, her fellow rioters walked into the frame carrying American flags, MAGA flags, Trump flags, and the familiar Gadsden flag, a yellow banner with a coiled rattlesnake hissing the warning “Don’t Tread on Me.” All of these were memes."

How conservative Facebook groups are changing what books children read in school

"Anti-book-ban activists say the groups aren't objective and are doing harm. Laney Hawes is a mother in Keller Independent School District in Tarrant County, Texas, where 41 books were recently pulled after lobbying from Facebook parent groups. She says she and other parents are open to compromise and discussion but that conservative parents aren't bending."

Technology

Republicans rushed into NFTs, then crypto crashed. Here's what happened next.

"Sales have been soft for many of Parler’s NFT collections. Just 2% of its National Parks NFTs have sold, as have 16% of the NFTs in the Valor Collection, which pays tribute to every U.S. military branch except the Coast Guard and Space Force."

What the Truth Social Flop Says About Trump

"Even so, why didn’t the tens of millions of the 89 million who followed him on Twitter or the 74 million who voted for him in 2020 make more of an effort to visit his new address? Blame it on the network effect. If you already have a Twitter account, it takes just a millisecond to click and add another person’s feed to your account. But downloading a new app just to follow a single somebody takes mental energy, especially if there aren’t many other accounts on the app you wish to follow."