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
Retailers are rushing to build AI apps. It’s unclear if shoppers will use them
There are almost 900 apps on ChatGPT and 353 Claude connectors, according to AppDiscoverability.com, which tracks AI app data.
Why news publishers are getting into the sports business coverage
Yahoo and Dow Jones are betting on the booming sports business beat, launching new verticals to capture high-value audiences and advertisers.
From ad tech tax to AI data brokers: the new middlemen keep 100%, publishers say
For some publishers, third-party content scraping lands as an even bigger affront than the ad tech tax they’ve spent years navigating – not a share of the pie, but the pie itself.