The shaky future of democracy, the web & more (Top3ics, 1 Sept)
My first subscribers, surveyed last week, were equally split between the diverse formats and styles of my first four editions, so here’s a 5th.
As always, feedback welcome below, browse all issues, & subscribe.
Eye-opener of the Week: SEME
In How Google Could Rig the 2016 Election (Politico), Robert Epstein describes and quantifies:
Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) … one of the largest behavioral effects ever discovered … [could] easily shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20 percent or more … with virtually no one knowing they are being manipulated
The implications for democracy are profound & the fact that people aren’t hearing about this is incredible. It’s not as if Google isn’t the topic of some debate in Brussels, or did you miss:
- European Publishers Play Lobbying Role Against Google (NYTimes)
- Axel Springer Chief Mathias Döpfner, digital counterrevolutionary (CJR)
- 160 other resources tagged media, 27 tagged filterbubble
Other top tags this week
The future (of the web) scored well recently. In particular, The Atlantic unveiled their approach to reintroducing blogging, and it is awesome.
Also added: The Big Reverse of the Web, Digital Distributors vs Open Web: who will win? Winning back the Open Web and The End of the Internet Dream?
There was also, inevitably, more on social media. For those who’ve been at this for a while, Burn It Down, Start From Scratch And Build a Social Media Strategy That Works will confirm your worst suspicions.
Everyone else can keep their heads in the sand busy with: Influencers And Advocates: Who Are they & How Can They Help?, 30+ Ultimate Headline Formulas for Tweets, Posts, and Emails, 3 Content Marketing Myths and Tips for Keeping It Real, & Creating Online Videos That Engage Viewers
This week’s plug
If you liked last edition’s focus on digital transformation, you might like my latest longread: Time to integrate Innovation into your Comms strategy.
- Mathew
Related reading
More Stuff I Think
More Stuff tagged social media , media , filter bubble , democracy , open web , future , newsletter
See also: Social Media Strategy , Content Creation & Marketing , Fediverse , Social Web , Media , Politics , Science&Technology