There’s no doubt we’re living in the Social Era. We just wrapped up the first social Olympics and we’re heading straight into the first social general election. Which is weird because we had Facebook and Twitter way back in 2008. I guess “the first social X” is like saying, “This is the year of mobile.”
Political conventions have made-for-TV theatrics, but this year, media outlets are taking that to the Web — both desktop and mobile. YouTube has created an Election Hub. Twitter has created specific hashtags for each convention. Even the respective parties have created their own apps. All of the major networks and cable news networks are streaming the conventions and many have created their own apps. So now you can watch a convention via three devices all at the same time.
And let us not forget the two candidates vying for supreme power also have their own apps.
One of the interesting things about this election’s use of technology is that each outlet (and politician) using an app now collects significant amounts of data. Media outlets can then take that data and provide it to their advertising partners to target you based on political affiliation; politicians can take that data and robocall you until the cows come home.
The era of social means just more ways to message people whether they like it or not.
Image via Shutterstock
More in Media
Inside Bloomberg Media’s survival guide for the AI era
The business news publisher has yet to sign a content licensing deal with an AI company, but it did recently implement a new AI-powered on-site search engine.
Media Briefing: Overheard at the Digiday Publishing Summit, September 2025 Google search edition
Media execs aired their grievances about Google referral traffic and their souring relationship with platform during the Digiday Publishing Summit.
How EssentiallySports’ creator program benefits both sides of the equation
Over the past year, sports news publication EssentiallySports has employed creators to make in-house video and editorial content around major tentpole sporting events — and thus far, the experiment has paid off.