The TikTok Hivemind is coming for you
Doomscroll 11.5.23
Hello and Happy Sunday! Hope everyone’s November is off to a good start, your Halloween candy is still plentiful, and your extra hour of sleep last night was b-l-i-s-s. For my new subscribers, welcome to Doomscroll! For my longtime readers, Sup!? Let’s get down to business!
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about memes! Out of everyone who replied, a neat 50% said you utilize memes “very carefully”. 33% of you said if you think it’s funny, it’s getting posted. That’s the spirit! The rest of you said you only use memes if something’s really trending so you can try and ride the wave. Question 2 I’m skipping because I realized after the fact that the question - and my answers -were worded awkwardly. Hey - we can’t all be perfect all the time! I’m only human. But, I did get some good comments about memes in general. Here’s a few of them:
There's a very fine line between clever and cringe. 90% of political people are in the "cringe" category. The best memes are made by supporters, not candidates.
Used carefully for each client
Always be careful when you use a meme. If not deployed carefully, you could end up making your client look silly... or end up getting ratio'ed. Use your best judgement.
Only use old memes that have been around for years. It takes a while for new gen z memes to travel to the boomers.
This week’s One Question is about advertising on Twitter. Have you done it? Was it worth it? If you haven’t, do you plan to? I’m curious what we think about the state of political advertising on Twitter (or X) these days - especially in light of news like this and this. Con: Twitter users seem ready and willing - more than ever - to ditch the platform. Con: Young voters don’t trust Twitter. Pro: Those ready to leave to Twitter are mostly Democrats, which maybe provides more of an opportunity for Republican advertisers. Thoughts? How do we feel about advertising on Twitter?
Who’s Doing What
--Gotta hand it to the CCP
I guess? The Chinese Communist Party sure knows how to mold young American minds. I know I rail against TikTok a lot and if you’re skipping over this section, no hard feelings. But remember: if you know an adolescent, the CCP is coming for him or her, and there are real-world consequences. Like the pro-Hamas hivemind that seems to keep growing on America’s college campuses. Here’s Rep. Mike Gallagher in The Free Press:
TikTok is not just an app teenagers use to make viral dance videos. A growing number of Americans rely on it for their news. Today, TikTok is the top search engine for more than half of Gen Z, and about six in ten Americans are hooked on the app before their seventeenth birthday. And it is controlled by America’s foremost adversary, one that does not share our interests or our values: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is Chinese, and in China there is no such thing as a private company. As if to underscore the point, ByteDance’s chief editor, Zhang Fuping, is also the boss of the company’s internal Communist Party cell.
…
If you doubt that the CCP would introduce bias—against Israel, against Jews, against the West, or anything else—into apps under its de facto control, consider that on October 31 The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese web platforms Baidu and Alibaba have wiped Israel off the map—literally. The two most widely used mapping programs in China show the outlines of Israel’s territory but do not label it as Israel, and may not have for some time.
Even Axios is covering the pro-Palestine bent on TikTok. Also, it’s worth reading Jeff Morris’ thread about TikTok and pro-Hamas views among Gen Z. Honestly, it’s terrifying.
Lawmakers are already renewing calls to crack down on the app.
--Pro-life pros
Women Speak Out Virginia, a partner of SBA Pro-Life America, announced an 11th-hour $1.5 million investment into Virginia state legislative races to support candidates who back a 15-week abortion ban. The campaign does include a digital component. The full-length 30-second spot talks about how a baby at 15 weeks can feel “excruciating” pain. The campaign also includes some static ads that label some candidates as “pro-abortion extremists.” Will it work? Personally, I hope so, but we’ll see.
--The whole package in Montana
Montana State Auditor Troy Downing is running for Congress, and he appears to be ::checks notes:: the whole package. What do I mean?
Humble beginnings? Check.
Veteran? Check.
Entrepreneur? Check.
Husband/Father? Check.
Public Servant? Check.
Yup - looks like Mr. Downing checks all the Republican intersectionality boxes. Literally the only thing that would make his bio stronger is if he was the son of legal immigrants, but I digress. He seems like a nice guy. I give his announcement video a solid B+ (Watch it here). It lacks a little originality, but follows a nice, basic script. The website is basic, but works for now. The only thing I’m not really feeling is the logo. It took me too long for my brain to catch up to my eyes and realize I was looking at a helicopter, but maybe I’m the outlier. All in all, good stuff.
2024 Roundup
Asa Hutchinson took to Twitter to explain why he won’t be on the South Carolina ballot. See it here.
The DeSantis campaign launched a new ad buy in Iowa. Read about it here.
The DeSantis campaign also started selling a pair of golf balls…taking a not-so-subtle swipe at Donald Trump in the process. See here.
Vivek Ramaswamy is dropping 8 figures on ad buys in Iowa and New Hampshire. Read about it here.
Nikki Haley went on The Daily Show and took some swipes at Ron DeSantis. Watch it here.
Doug Burgum was profiled in The Atlantic. Read it here.
Who’s Spending Where
From 10/26 - 11/1, the top conservative spender on Facebook was Protect Women Ohio. The group spent almost $185,000 to advocate against Issue 1 on the ballot. As a reminder, Issue 1, if passed, would amend the state Constitution to establish a right to an abortion. The pro-life side hasn’t fared so well at the ballot box recently, so we shall see if this ad spend pays off or not. Americans for Prosperity spent $159,000 on ads, while AFP Action spent about $151,000 on ads supporting someone named Craig Riedel in Ohio, and on anti-Trump ads. Rounding out the top five are PragerU ($95,000) and the Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism ($91,000).
The top Republican spender on Google ads from 10/26 - 11/1 was AFP Action at $146,000. SFA Inc spent $60,000 on ads hitting Ron DeSantis for “lying” about Nikki Haley, as well as some search ads hyping her support for Israel and anti-China cred. Kentucky Values spent $58,000 on anti-Andy Beshear ads in Kentucky. Make American Great Again Inc came in fourth place with $51,000 in ad spend, and Never Back Down Inc spent about $28,000.
P2P
Industry Watch
You may have heard already…but the Supreme Court is taking up some cases that deal with free speech and social media. A couple questions the justices will seek to answer:
When an elected official blocks someone on social media, is that violating said person’s First Amendment rights?
Are laws that seek to block social media companies from banning users who post “contentious rhetoric” Constitutional?
Did the Biden Administration unlawfully pressure social media companies to suppress certain COVID-related content?
All good questions to ask, IMO. Read more about the cases here.
The Grapevine
Did anyone else chuckle at the report in Punchbowl that Trump world was warning newly-elected Speaker Mike Johnson to stay away from Jeff Roe? Gotta love it.
Asa Hutchinson’s Campaign Manager departed this week, reportedly due to disagreement over the direction of the campaign.
National Public Affairs’ Mike Hahn was featured in Campaigns and Elections this week. Woo! Read it here.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav Halloween movie? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Finally: A Republican-owned social media account is getting some mainstream media attention! Shocker: It’s written by a journo who’s butthurt that the Twitter account @RNCResearch has fun at President Biden’s expense. No, I’m not joking. Here’s one Steve Benen at MSNBC.com:
Why does this matter? The more items I see from the RNC account, the more I find myself asking the same question Milbank asked:
Maybe this helps build the public impression that Biden is non compos mentis, but the RNC is also inadvertently fueling a rather different impression: This is the best it’s got?
Exactly. The Republican National Committee’s online account intends to expose “the lies, hypocrisy, and failed far-left policies of Joe Biden.” It’s against this backdrop that the RNC has made a powerful case that the president likes dogs, ice cream, and joking around with children.
If Biden were nearly as bad as his partisan critics like to suggest, wouldn’t the RNC’s account have better content?
Lmaoooooo. This is the best Benen’s got? The RNC Research twitter account is God’s Gift to Twitter; a treasure trove of Biden gaffes, far-left nut jobs, and progressive hypocrisy. Bless it.
From the other side of the tracks:
I always find it interesting to read about what our corporate counterparts are doing in the advertising world - especially during the holidays when they’re trying to drive sales. This latest report caught my eye this week. Web ads on desktop and mobile, as well as OTT/CTV still seem to reign supreme.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!