… You may chafe at how much the online world knows about you, but campaigns don’t know anything more about your online behavior than any retailer, news outlet or savvy blogger. … What’s really new in politics today is not the data itself but how campaigns make sense of it. […] Read more »
Data vs. Gurus: Democrats Say Metrics Are Eclipsing the Consultant Class
Missed in all the talk of their data wizardry, progressive organizers — including from the Obama campaign — say that campaigns based on numbers, testing, and best practices are a challenge to know-it-all political consultants. The argument: In the years since Howard Dean’s quick rise and quicker fall, the left […] 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 »
Everything We Know (So Far) About Obama’s Big Data Tactics
… During the election, the Obama campaign, which had assembled a cutting-edge team of data scientists, developers, and digital advertising experts, refused to say anything about how it was targeting voters. Now, members of the campaign are starting to open up about what their team actually did with all that […] 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 »