Not quite weekly yet, but catching up. In this edition: 56 excellent stories related to digital politics and advocacy.
- Joe Biden’s campaign plans a $280 million ad campaign for the final three months of the presidential race. Includes $60 million on digital, about 21.5% of the total. Still, that’s low compared to commercial marketers’ typical digital percentage these days.
- Gen Z Democrats say Trump is swamping Biden in digital ads.
- Lindsey Graham’s challenger is spending far more on Facebook than any other Senate candidate.
- Biden’s new campaign website drives unity theme by incorporating ideas from former rivals.
- Trump’s campaign knocks on a million doors a week. Biden’s knocks on zero. “[Biden’s] campaign and the Democratic National Committee think they can compensate for the lack of in-person canvassing with phone calls, texts, new forms of digital organizing, and virtual meet-ups with voters.”
- A “Bug” In Instagram’s Hashtags Has Been Favoring Donald Trump.
- “Outright Lies”: Voting Misinformation Flourishes on Facebook. “Nearly half of all top-performing posts that mentioned voting by mail were false or misleading.” Meanwhile, Are Conspiracy Theories Good For Facebook?
- Confederate Groups Are Thriving on Facebook. What Does That Mean for the Platform?
- ‘Adapt immediately or find a new job’: Senate GOP confronts fundraising emergency. “Democrats’ online fundraising has again caught fire, giving them a boost in November’s fight for the Senate majority.”
- How the pandemic scrambled Democrats’ campaign to retake statehouses. “Viral videos, virtual 5ks, and mask-making: Local candidates have gotten creative to reach voters.”
- Digital Out Of Home Advertising Is Having A Coming Out Party, Will Candidates Turn Up?
- Tech Playing Huge Role in Louisiana Election Campaigns.
- Political Facebook ad spending pours into Maine, but pages aren’t always what they seem.
- Bullock staffer fired after offensive tweets surface.
- Ossoff condemns Perdue campaign for ‘offensive,’ ‘anti-Semitic’ digital ad.
- Watchdog Says Trump Campaign Paid $170 Million to Companies Set Up to Hide Spending, including passing money via Brad Parscale’s company. A great opportunity to skim a few bucks off the top – or a few million.
- Congressional leaders urge Trump administration to release funds to U.S. Internet freedom organization. C.f. Appeals court blocks Trump administration takeover of organization fighting digital censorship and surveillance.
- Misleading Virus Video, Pushed by the Trumps, Spreads Online. C.f. Hydroxychloroquine: Why a video promoted by Trump was pulled on social media. More: Twitter, Facebook Delete Video Trump Tweeted Over COVID-19 Misinformation, and Donald Trump Jr suspended from tweeting after Covid post.
- Experts Warn Lack Of Discussion Impeding Cybersecurity Preparedness.
- How the Trump campaign came to court QAnon, the online conspiracy movement identified by the FBI as a violent threat.
- QAnon Conspiracy Theorist Agent Margaritaville on the Run From Cops. Looking for his lost shaker of truth? C.f. a prominent sportsblogger-turned-Q enthusiast once robbed a bank – and served federal time for it.
- Twitter Finally Cracked Down on QAnon — but There’s a Catch.
- He held a BLM sign in what he called ‘America’s most racist town.’ The result? A viral video of abuse.
- The Internet wants to keep you ‘doom-scrolling.’ Here’s how to break free.
- Why Trump’s Protest Crackdown Keeps Blowing Up in His Face. It’s creating “viral content”, but not the kind Trump wanted.
- The coronavirus is exacerbating a crisis on social media. Human rights activists could pay the price.
- Racism, misogyny, death threats: Why can’t the booming video-game industry curb toxicity?
- A look at the Americans who believe there is some truth to the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was planned. Who believes the online hype? Let’s find out.
- We’re Witnessing the Total Breakdown of Discourse in pop culture. Mirroring the breakdown in political discourse?
- Republicans Are Too Fixated on “Bias” to Conduct Actual Oversight of Tech.
- Adobe Exiting Political Ad Business.
- Pro-Biden super PAC American Bridge hires Mike Bloomberg’s digital firm Hawkfish.
- US Ambassador to Mexico’s surprisingly personal – and effective – use of Twitter for public #diplomacy.
- TikTok Could Have Been China’s Nintendo. Soft-power diplomacy no more.
- A Climate Activist Turns His Digital Prowess to Organizing the Youth Vote in November.
- How India will deal with the digital political drive during a pandemic?
- DSPolitical said Monday it will begin accepting applications from down-ballot candidates for a new $50,000 grant program.
- Activism on social media varies by race and ethnicity, age, political party.
- These Conservatives Have a Laser Focus: ‘Owning the Libs’.
- A right-wing social network reported a potential breach. Then it went dark. What happened at AllSocial? Curiouser and curiouser.
- Getting social ads right in the new era of digital marketing.
- Donation Pages – You Have Just One Minute.
- Get The Vote-by-Mail Out digitally.
- 10 Easy Optimizations to Advocacy Pages.
- How Your List-Building Strategy Can Adapt In The Covid-19 Era.
- These Are Considered the Most Important Factors in Achieving Multichannel Campaign ROI.
- Instagram morphs into an information powerhouse.
- The Risks TikTok Poses Are Not at All Unique to TikTok.
- A decade after the Occupy movement, a new digital archive chronicles its history—and continuing influence.
- And finally, Person focuses every woman and man in America on his mental abilities via camera, TV. Trump’s touting of a cognitive test backfires, as shown by social media data.
Too much is never enough? Check out previous Quick Hits editions.
– cpd