Did the NFL diss Tom Brady on Social Media? from USA Today
“Innocent oversight or direct shot? You be the judge.
On Sunday night, the NFL’s official Twitter account posted a photo about possible quarterbacks who could carry their team to Super Bowl 50 this season.”
Guess who was left off.
WWE star Kevin Owens is destroying John Cena fans on Twitter Owens doesn’t just run smack in the ring. He also does it using Social Media.
How Social Media is changing elections.
How Social Media is ruining politics. From Politico
If traditional print and broadcast media required candidates to be nouns—stable, coherent figures—social media pushes them to be verbs, engines of activity.
“Twice before in the last hundred years a new medium has transformed elections. In the 1920s, radio disembodied candidates, reducing them to voices. It also made national campaigns far more intimate. Politicians, used to bellowing at fairgrounds and train depots, found themselves talking to families in their homes. The blustery rhetoric that stirred big, partisan crowds came off as shrill and off-putting when piped into a living room or a kitchen. Gathered around their wireless sets, the public wanted an avuncular statesman, not a firebrand. With Franklin Roosevelt, master of the soothing fireside chat, the new medium found its ideal messenger.
In the 1960s, television gave candidates their bodies back, at least in two dimensions. With its jumpy cuts and pitiless close-ups, TV placed a stress on sound bites, good teeth and an easy manner. Image became everything, as the line between politician and celebrity blurred. John Kennedy was the first successful candidate of the TV era, but it was Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton who perfected the form. Born actors, they could project a down-home demeanor while also seeming bigger than life.
Today, with the public looking to smartphones for news and entertainment, we seem to be at the start of the third big technological makeover of modern electioneering. The presidential campaign is becoming just another social-media stream, its swift and shallow current intertwining with all the other streams that flow through people’s devices. This shift is changing the way politicians communicate with voters, altering the tone and content of political speech. But it’s doing more than that. It’s changing what the country wants and expects from its would-be leaders.
What’s important now is not so much image as personality. But, as the Trump phenomenon reveals, it’s only a particular kind of personality that works—one that’s big enough to grab the attention of the perpetually distracted but small enough to fit neatly into a thousand tiny media containers. It might best be described as a Snapchat personality. It bursts into focus at regular intervals without ever demanding steady concentration.”
Social media favors the bitty over the meaty, the cutting over the considered. It also prizes emotionalism over reason. The more visceral the message, the more quickly it circulates and the longer it holds the darting public eye. In something of a return to the pre-radio days, the fiery populist now seems more desirable, more worthy of attention, than the cool wonk.
Social Media ready to cash in on the 2016 Election
President Obama revolutionized the use of Social Media in 2008. In fact, it is credited with his overwhelming election and reelection — his ability to reach out to grassroots groups and fundraise on the micro and macro level. Television is the king of election advertising. But Social Media is quickly rising because of the ability to focus the message to tailored groups.
“While billions will be spent on political advertising over the next year, television remains the prime mover and budgets for digital ads trail traditional media.
But even by one recent estimate from Borrell Associates, 9.5 percent of political media budgets could go towards digital media — a total of $1 billion.”
“Observers predict platforms like Facebook will remain dominant in 2016 with a user base that makes up nearly three quarters of online adults in the United States. And search advertising will remain key.
Insurgent companies like Snapchat though are catching advertising buzz with offerings geared specifically to young people.”
One factor makes Facebook distinctive in the race for political ad dollars: its massive audience. The company says it can offer campaigns the ability to reach a broad swath of the American public — around 190 million people in the country use the platform every month — and hone in on particular groups of voters.
Operatives can target ads to potential voters who are interested in certain issues, like gun control or the economy, or based on demographic characteristics.
Facebook has a robust set of data about its users. Users tell the platform about their likes and dislikes and are controversially required by the social network to keep the name they “use in real life.”
Google has an election team of 10 to 12 who are pushing presidential campaigns to adopt the advertising tools that made the search engine a multi-billion dollar powerhouse.
Those include the three traditional drivers of its advertising revenue — sponsored links in Google searches, YouTube video advertising and so-called programmatic advertising, where the tech company provides ads to millions of online publishers like The New York Times or HGTV that can be targeted for specific content.
Twitter has positioned itself as the destination for campaigns looking to engage in real time — a reputation bolstered by the numerous political operatives and reporters who use the platform obsessively.
The primary vehicle for advertising on Twitter is through promoted tweets, or messages that a campaign or company pays to place in the feeds of certain users. Campaigns can also pay to promote hashtags.
SNAPCHAT
“Snapchat is still in its advertising infancy compared to more established social media companies and 2016 will be the first election cycle to test out political ads on the platform.
Snapchat is pitching its video ads — no longer than 10 seconds — as more analogous to traditional TV and targeted at young voters who have cut the cord.
The company says its ads are geared towards persuading voters to align with a candidate. One criticism is that its videos, unlike some digital ads, do now allow people to click through to reach a candidate’s website where they would be encouraged to donate or volunteer.
Besides video ads, candidates can also purchase filters touting their campaign, which users can add to their photos and videos. The company recently hired Rob Saliterman to lead political ad sales. He previously helped lead the politics team at Google and served in the George W. Bush administration.
Snapchat touts nearly 100 million people using the platform daily, a sizable number, but one dwarfed by Facebook’s 1 billion daily users.
And campaigns are limited in who they can target on the platform. Snapchat is almost exclusively used by people under the age of 34, and more than a quarter of users are younger than 18 and ineligible to vote.”
A few Politicians to follow on Twitter:
The Democrats: @TheDemocrats 409K followers
The Republicans: @GOP 386K followers
Mississippi Democrats: @msdemocrats 2,980 followers
Mississippi Republicans: @MSGOP 5,965 followers
Donald Trump: @realDonaldTrump 4.08M followers There is nothing tradition (or at times rational) about how Donald Trump runs his Twitter feed or his campaign. It’s full of insults and boasts — a constant stream of self promotion. But it works in the sense that it gets attention for Donald Trump. And that’s what he wants most of all.
Dr. Ben Carson @RealBenCarson 559K followers. Dr. Ben Carson is a neurosurgeon who speaks softly but is carrying a big stick in the polls. His Twitter Feed is a more traditional mix of RT’s, news about the candidate and other Ben Carson policy statements.
Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton 4.18M followers. Tweets she actually writes are followed with a “-H.”
Bernie Sanders @SenSanders 641K followers. Tweets he writes end with “-B.” Otherwise it is staffer driven.
President Barack Obama @POTUS 3.96M followers. This is the account that President Obama actually writes on. He has taken to Social Media recently to promote his global warming initiative and his trip to Alaska. He actually took the pictures that he posted on Instagram.
Jeb Bush @JebBush 228K followers
Governor Phil Bryant @PhilBryantMS 22.8K followers.
Sen. Chris McDaniel @senatormcdaniel 6,229 followers.
Rep. Bennie Thompson @BennieGThompson 4,839 followers.