Latest headlines:

• Wait, Social Media Isn't Free?
• Here's exactly what you should NOT do to respond to critics on Facebook
• The next evolution in media buying
• YouTube Hits One Billion: How Can You Get More Views?
• Has Twitter Changed Journalism as a Political Institution?
• Negative Political Advertising – Does It Work?
• Proof that Social Media Efforts Bring Success to Campaigns
• How Search Works

Dig into the Politics + Technology archives.

Related posts:

• The rogue tweet from the American Red Cross
• Grassroots advocacy: challenges in the new era
• Making caucus votes open, transparent, and instantly reported
• The new wave in micro-targeting for GOTV

	Subscribe via RSS
	Get P+T highlights by email

Study: On Facebook, Money Alone Can’t Buy Political Popularity

Political campaigns are set to spend over $159 million online in 2012, and Facebook is happy to soak up the advertising binge. However, a first-of-its-kind experimental study finds that Facebook banner “ads had no politically consequential effect on knowledge of the candidate, his favorability, or support for his election among voters.” While others in the media have misinterpreted this study to mean that Facebook ads don’t matter at all, the more accurate lesson is that candidates need users to also voluntarily share their content. Recent large scale research proves definitively that widely shared Facebook political ads do have a material impact. In other words, on Facebook, obscure brands can’t buy popularity; they need friends, too. And, this portends good things for democracy, as political ads are increasingly forced into an online arena of conversation.

Read the rest at Tech Crunch.