My experience with non-public office microtargeted election campaigns on social media
“Microtargeting” has become a hot and trendy topic in the world of political advertising—and controversial. (Consider one defense of the practice, and how major Internet companies have approached the matter.) In short, the practice appeals to prospective voters in a particular demographic, often with highly specific traits, and advertises narrowly to that demographic to sway voters in the most appealing way.
As a resident of the greater Los Angeles region for most of the last decade, I’ve become a new kind of prospective voter: the television and film award voter.
Of course, I’m not such a voter. I am not a part of the Academy, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, or any other media-related voting group.
But one can’t drive far out of LAX in awards season without seeing billboards advertising shows or movies with the label “For Your Consideration.” That’s polite code for, “please vote for this film for an award.”
It also means I received a number of ads—sometimes Twitter, sometimes Facebook—asking for my vote.
Thanks to greater advertising transparency from Facebook and Twitter, I can see why I’m targeted. And, to be fair, the demographics aren’t terribly precise—at least, as revealed by these companies. Here’s one ad asking for my vote because I’m over the age of 35 in the greater Los Angeles region. A recent Facebook ad was targeted to me as a Malibu resident over the age of 35 who’d recently seen the film advertised (known to Facebook because my spouse tagged me in a status update as we watched it).
Voting isn’t just for public office! It’s for the pope, for corporate boards, for the Baseball Hall of Fame, and for the Oscars. And, of course, we should expect influences to occur for any election, even those not for a public office.