GE2017: Facebook

In reply to this at the BBC. I wasn’t expecting the article to be that good, or interesting. Amongst the highlights, I like,

You can’t buy likes or shares! (Actually, you can buy likes but it is against Facebook’s terms and conditions). BTW this means that our keyboard warriors activities are positive and important acts of campaigning.

Filter bubbles are both powerful manifestations of persuasive conversation and can also be merely an echo chamber of the converted or worse, an echo chamber of bots (that’d be funny). Let’s also remember that echo chambers of the converted may well have motivated offline activity, like voting.

My reading of other’s research suggests that there’s not a lot of cross partisan conversations going on online, it’s difficult to reach your opposition and that’s why you have to pay for it; free motivates your own people.

Paid Ads aren’t as effective as we’d feared, and micro targeting seems not to have worked, although the Tories held Copeland (the BBC article has an example of a Tory ad. slagging JC off for opposing nuclear power!) I am also curious as to where the opposition, seen on the doorstep & phonebanks, to Labour’s rolling back the Inheritance Tax giveaway’s came from.

Facebook is owned. It can not be trusted as a guardian of free speech,  privacy or progress. The world needs something else. …

Kensington

Kensington goes Red. Some of you may remember I used to live there. In fact I ran a committee room there during the 1983 general election, and had only just moved there; I had to travel to Camden to vote, for John McDonnell. What goes around. come around. I’ve not been back for a long time. …

EVEL

One of my tweets suggests that with 13 Scottish Tories and 10 DUP MPs, that English Votes for English Laws may well bite the Tories in the arse. It also may be the opportunity for some disruptive parliamentary mischief. Although on closer inspection since the 34 SNP MPs can’t vote either, it probably hasn’t got any legs. …

Keys

Supply & Confidence with the DUP. This isn’t funny. First it’s Brexit, then it’s the Human Rights Act and now the DUP are in No. 10. Do the Tories care about the Good Friday agreement? …