In late September, I was involved in an email exchange in which a historian stated that “Someone should do a piece cataloging down all the poli sci consensi being undone this season.” Now I can write with some confidence that the findings of the political science canon were largely confirmed […] Read more »
Your Online Attention, Bought in an Instant
… On the Web, powerful algorithms are sizing you up, based on myriad data points: what you Google, the sites you visit, the ads you click. Then, in real time, the chance to show you an ad is auctioned to the highest bidder. … “Online consumers are being bought and […] Read more »
Beware the Smart Campaign
… Mr. Messina is understandably proud of his team, which included an unprecedented number of data analysts and social scientists. As a social scientist and a former computer programmer, I enjoy the recognition my kind are getting. But I am nervous about what these powerful tools may mean for the […] Read more »
Social and Anti-Social Media
… Republicans may lament that this is not their father’s country but more to the point this is not their father’s marketing either. Irreversible change in the country’s demography collided with irresistible change in the consumption of media. While older white males get their information from television the people who […] Read more »
Secret of the Obama Victory? Rerun Watchers, for One Thing
It was called “the Optimizer,” and, strategists for President Obama say it is how he beat a better-financed Republican opposition in the advertising war. Culling never-before-used data about viewing habits, and combining it with more personal information about the voters the campaign was trying to reach and persuade than was […] Read more »
Academic ‘Dream Team’ Helped Obama’s Effort
… This election season the Obama campaign won a reputation for drawing on the tools of social science. … Less well known is that the Obama campaign also had a panel of unpaid academic advisers. The group — which calls itself the “consortium of behavioral scientists,” or COBS — provided […] Read more »