Social Media and Politics is a podcast bringing you innovative, first-hand insights into how social media is changing the political game. Subscribe for interviews and analysis with politicians, academics, and leading digital strategists to get their take on how social media influences the ways we engage with politics and democracy. Social Media and Politics is hosted by Michael Bossetta, political scientist at Lund University. Check out the podcast's official website:…
Jochen König , Co-Founder and CEO of Cosmonauts & Kings, discusses the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation. We break down the current state of TTPA implementation and its implications for digital political communication in Europe. Jochen shares his thoughts on the definition of political advertising, alternative solutions to increase political visibility online,…
Bruce Schneier and Dr. Nathan Sanders discuss Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship (MIT Press). Bruce and Nathan share how AI becomes viable for governments when the speed, scale, scope, and sophistication of computational systems surpasses human capacity. We also discuss the relationship between AI and the Internet of Things, how AI interacts with…
Jacob Ward , accomplished journalist and host of The Rip Current, joins the podcast to discuss independent journalism in today’s fragmented media environment. We begin with a conversation about whether the “news cycle” still makes sense, before turning to how platforms like YouTube and TikTok enable journalists to build direct relationships with audiences. Jacob reflects on sourcing,…
Dr. Betto van Waarden, Assistant Professor of History at Maastricht University, discusses his new book Politicians and Mass Media in the Age of Empire . We begin by charting the technological developments of the 19th century and how it influenced the speed and scale of news production. Then, we discuss the rise of public opinion and how it affected the media's role in the political system. We…
The 10th Annual Social Media and Politics Year in Review! This year, we cover the platforms’ year in review reports, the EU's regulation on transparency of targeted ads, meta approaches to platforms, and implications of the synthetic public sphere. Here are links to reports discussed in the episode, and see you in 2026! Google YouTube TikTok Snap Pinterest Pornhub Zoom
Ivan Pardo, Founder of Solidarity Tech , shares how tech can solve organizing bottlenecks for political campaigns. We discuss how Solidarity Tech was used for digital organizing in Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign in New York and Catherine Connelly's presidential win in Ireland. Beyond tech functionality, we discuss how CRM platforms can give campaigns a human touch, how tech integrates with the…
Dr. Kevin Munger, Assistant Professor and Chair of Computational Social Science in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute, discusses the concept of temporal validity in social media research. Dr. Munger breaks down why thinking about time is an important component of meta-science, particularly when it comes to evaluating the methodologies of social…
Frank A. Spring, founding partner at Altum Insight and managing partner of Undaunted Ventures , shares how qualitative methods can understand the stories voters tell themselves about politics. Frank discusses his work using AI-moderated interviews (AIMI) and digital ethnography to analyze citizens' understanding of democracy, and how these insights can be used to inform political storytelling. We…
In this episode, I share some initiatives to help in improving the teaching and learning of political communication. Political Communication Teaching Database and the upload page . Meta Oversight Board Game Counterfactual Case Study
Professor Matthew Wall and Dr. Louis Bromfield, both at the Department of Politics, Philosophy, and International Relations at Swansea University, discuss election forecasting. We cover different types of political forecasting, such as polls and prediction models, and dive into prediction markets like Polymarket. We then discuss the concept of the 'wisdom of the crowd' and what attributes make a…
