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Category: In Practice

Montana is a Democratic Party state, not Republican, contrary to news reporting

Montana is a Democratic Party state, not Republican, contrary to news reporting

(Note – this post is about the media – not about the candidates or the political parties). Actual headlines: And so on. There are more headlines implying Montana is a Republican state. Except Montana has a long history of electing Democrats 3 to 1 over Republicans for Federal office: The assertions made by the headlines are false. The media has invented a fictional meme either to create controversy or heightened emotions or is trying to offer a crude explanation as…

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Solar eclipse will increase fire danger?

Solar eclipse will increase fire danger?

“Drought over, but eclipse event will raise fire danger” That is the odd headline of a KATU local TV news report about Oregon State. Authorities think more people will visit Oregon in the summer of 2017 because of a solar eclipse. Since humans cause wild fires, this will increase the wild fire risk. To strengthen the claim, the local news story emphasizes: “According to the National Park Service, 90 percent of wildfires in the United States are caused by humans,…

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Most car crashes caused by cellular phone usage?

Most car crashes caused by cellular phone usage?

I saw an item on a Facebook group where the general meme was that everyone knows cellular phone usage while driving is the cause of most vehicle crashes. The data, however, paints a remarkably different picture. Cellular phone usage, per the government’s own data, is a minor causative factor in vehicle crashes. There are many causative factors in car crashes: one category of causative factors is “distracted driving”. Cellular phone usage is a subset of “distracted driving”. The U.S.government’s National…

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More “Look at me!” propaganda memes

More “Look at me!” propaganda memes

I am not the only one noticing this peculiar form of propaganda, now prevalent on Instagram and Youtube social media: There is an undeniable aesthetic and demographic conformity in the vanlife world. Nearly all of the most popular accounts belong to young, attractive, white, heterosexual couples. “There’s the pretty van girl and the woodsy van guy,” Smith said. “That’s what people want to see.” …. King clicked on the account’s most successful post, which has more than eight thousand likes….

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If you have lots of friends, social media can make you feel better

If you have lots of friends, social media can make you feel better

When individuals post photos of their wonderful lives on social media, we do not typically think of this as propaganda – but literally, these are propaganda messages that say “I have a cool life” and you should follow and Like my posts. A new paper comes up with the remarkable (not really) finding that if you have a lot of friends, social media can make you feel better about yourself. Buried at the end: if you do not have a…

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Confirmed – Facebook has shadow banned this web site

Confirmed – Facebook has shadow banned this web site

My Occupy Propaganda page on Facebook was shadow banned beginning about December 15th, 2016. Read on for the update – and confirmation. (This web site, when it started, was titled Occupy Propaganda, partly making fun of several “Occupy” political groups. I later changed the name to Social Panic. I discontinued cross publishing this web site to Facebook a few months after this shadow ban occurred.)

Oroville Dam emergency turns in to social media political propaganda opportunity

Oroville Dam emergency turns in to social media political propaganda opportunity

Just hours after a mass evacuation order was given, the emergency in Northern California turned social media into its usual outrage culture filled with political propaganda. This event has provided a real time illustration of the way that social media is collapsing in on itself. The first and third comments in this screen capture illustrate both sides:          Water scientist Peter Gleick says he cannot tell which is worse: “gloating comments” on social media might be worse…

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35% of college admissions staff check college applicants’ public social media posts

35% of college admissions staff check college applicants’ public social media posts

New data from Kaplan Test Prep say admissions officers do look at accounts. Source: Colleges Really Are Looking at Your Social Media Accounts | Best Colleges | US News And what they find can improve admission chances – or rejection. The key takeaway: “College applicants need to be aware of what others can find about them on social networks and make sure it reflects well on them,” said Alpher. “For better or worse, social media has become an established factor…

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How “public relations” uses propaganda

How “public relations” uses propaganda

While much social media propaganda is created by amateurs, much is also created by professionals who have titles like “Public Relations Officer”, “Communications Director”, “Press liaison”, “Spokesperson” and what not. Here is an example of how the MPAA planned to organized a propaganda campaign against Google (because Google searches enabled people to find copyrighted material): “Media: We want to make sure that the media is at the NAAG meeting. We propose working with MPAA (Vans), Comcast, and NewsCorp (Bill Guidera)…

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About 60% of headlines on social media are not clicked, meaning the headline is the message

About 60% of headlines on social media are not clicked, meaning the headline is the message

Key points about social media (and how this applies to the dissemination of propaganda) from peer reviewed research: Information is shared rapidly on social media, most of it within just a few hours of it first appearing online Information that is shared on social media continues to live for a long time, generating subsequent click thrus for days and weeks in to the future. Information shared on social media is long lived – that is, generates click throughs back to…

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