Twitter

U.S. President Donald Trump no longer has access to the massive social media following that was a feature of his presidency after Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon all took actions to halt or limit his use of their platforms in the wake of last week’s violence on Capitol Hill.

Twitter and Facebook both locked Trump’s accounts, while Apple, Google and Amazon removed the app Parler – favoured by Trump’s supporters and the far right – from their web hosting services.

The moves came after a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers worked to count electoral votes from the presidential election, won by President-elect Joe Biden. Five people died.

U of T News spoke with Megan Boler, a professor in the department of social education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), about how Trump’s presidency has impacted the social media landscape, why social media companies have chosen to act against him now and what the future holds for him and his supporters in the online world.

How vital has social media been to the Trump presidency?

It’s so important to recognize that it was an absolute historical precedent having a president who had a direct, unmediated line of communication to his base in this way.

In the past, we would have had a president holding press correspondent meetings and that would give journalists and editors an opportunity to ask questions and perhaps to mediate some of the lies, but he was essentially able to produce – as everyone has spoken about – “alternative facts,” or an alternative reality with his base, culminating in this last, most damaging lie regarding the allegation that the election had been stolen.

It was absolutely vital to his presidency and part of what was necessary for him to begin to systematically erode the foundations of democracy – both in terms of setting new precedents for how he spoke to his base to his attacks and erosion of trust in the fourth estate and in journalism. So I can’t emphasize strongly enough how vital social media has been.

There have been calls for social media companies to ban Trump’s accounts for some time. Why have they taken this step now?

Most obviously because if they had not, they would have looked so bad and it would’ve hurt their reputation. They simply had to or their integrity would’ve been in question, although for many, it already is and was in question for the past four years – particularly, one could say, since Charlottesville, Va. Because one can argue – and I think one of the most dangerous arguments we’re seeing – is that hate speech equals free speech. And that is something that we have to educate all quarters of the public about.

As long as things remain solely online and solely expressions and text, everybody can say “This is a matter of free speech.” But in the instance of Charlottesville, and in the instance of what we saw happen last week, it was an occasion in which the violence poured over from online to offline, and that was what was particularly disturbing.

People are debating what it was that we witnessed at the Capitol and whether it was actually a coup attempt. I don’t understand how people can even question whether it was, but people seem to question what kind of violence that was – if it was just a mob gone crazy or a one-off.

In any event, it was violence that moved from online into the real world, and that’s part of what pushed this over the edge and forced the social media companies to make this decision.

In making that decision, have companies such as Facebook and Twitter set a precedent by taking responsibility for content published on their platforms?

We’ve seen such a rollercoaster over the past four years in terms of Facebook in particular having been called to the stand to face censure and legislative challenges as to why they are not taking action. So Facebook’s record in terms of not taking any responsibility for what they have fomented is just shocking.

There are occasions – such as when Facebook took InfoWars off [the platform]. So, there are moments here and there where they decide something has gone far enough.

But I think we’re all on the edge of our seats waiting to see what the next move is going to be.

What does the future hold for Trump and his supporters on social media, now that he’s no longer on Twitter and Facebook?

The thing that’s most disturbing is that lots of other stand-ins are doing Trump’s work for him. The far right is extremely well-orchestrated. I suppose in many ways, Trump has clearly been the newly born Christ-figure and saviour of this movement, but I think he has mobilized a movement and there are plenty of other leaders in the wings who can take up that slack. So it doesn’t really matter whether he has a Twitter account or not.

What are they going to do about Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and other names like Jack Posobiec and Candace Owens? There are plenty of other people who are fomenting the far right and keeping this movement alive and radicalizing new members.

This also touches on something I think is so crucial: In 2017, the scholar and journalist Whitney Philips wrote a study called The Oxygen of Amplification in which she outlined the ways in which journalism has to be so careful about how it reports on this. I have been so disturbed by the repetition of those images that we saw at the Capitol. That is doing the publicity for the far-right and for white supremacists. Those images have emboldened people. That is success for them.

I really hope that, in addition to social media companies taking responsibility for censoring people, we will also take stock of the fact that we have to be very careful with how we report on this.

Could there be a broader fallout for social media companies?

There was a movement after the Cambridge Analytica scandal where there was a big cry to get off Facebook – and many did. In particular, it was not just to get off social media, but specifically to get off Facebook and use different kinds of social platforms. So we may see that.

Right now, the focus isn’t on what the broader public will do but what’s going to happen to the far right. It’s really great that you’re asking that question because it is a moment where we all have to say: “What are the social implications of social media?” We clearly have not taken them seriously enough.

Many would say the genie is out of the bottle, the Pandora’s box has been opened and there is no going back – and I think, in many ways, that is true. So now we’re faced with really difficult questions of legislation, policy and reform – and it’s going to be a long, uphill battle.

What are the lessons to be learned from the social media landscape of Trump’s presidency?

I really fear that it’s too late, but I think some directions are important to think about.

First, we should think about what it would mean to reinvigorate local news because that has just devastated the news media landscape. Local news is essentially happening through these social media platforms. So, thinking about whether there could be greater funding for publicly funded media. That would create shared media that’s responsible for certain kinds of standards. That might be a model to think about. So, really encouraging people to unplug from social media.

The other key aspect of this is demanding there be policies that social media monopolies abide by, and that there be limits on the monopolies. We know that major lawsuits have begun against Facebook and there are hopes that maybe that will have an effect.

As well, thinking about how we’re going to deal with the rise of white supremacy and this kind of fascism is really, really critical. What I mentioned about ensuring that we begin to educate the public about why hate speech is not free speech is really crucial. In my mind, that’s the first and foremost thing because any move that is made right now to limit these other accounts of the far-right is going to be seen as censorship.

So, we need to have really critical public education about what constitutes hate speech and what constitutes free speech – perhaps particularly in Canada because the U.S. does have more of a history of legal debate about this, and I think it’s important for Canada to rethink its legislation around hate speech policy.

How have traditional news media been affected by Trump’s use of social media?

One thing I find really interesting is that Trump has made so much money for media and for the news. He has kept the news alive for four years. So, there’s an interesting tension in the news industry – on the one hand, we can have a great deal of sympathy that the news industry, in light of the internet, has been losing so much revenue and that they have to do what they have to do to stay alive.

That said, after 2016 it was very clear that the news had been responsible for giving Trump an incredible amount of free advertising and publicity – far more than they’d given Hillary Clinton – and that’s because Trump filled news. We have some sort of phenomenal, insane fascination around the world with Trump.

There are real, moral questions about the news having reported on Trump’s Twitter feed because so often those posts were lies and yet the news would repeat them. As we know, that’s highly problematic. The repetition of a lie makes it seem true – and even if you do counter it, it never really succeeds in correcting information.

I’ve noticed that in the absence of Trump having Twitter, there’s still just as much conversation – we’re still talking about it – and I’m so curious to see the extent to which we will continue talking about Trump even when he’s not president. I predict he will still be on the front pages of most of our news sites.

Twitter complaints influence business behaviour, U of T study says

ullahnor — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 18:03:42 +0000

Twitter complaints influence business behaviour, U of T study says

ullahnor Wed, 03/01/2017 - 13:03

Cutline

U of T study suggests using social media to complain can be worthwhile so long as a company values the customer enough to respond and offer some incentive for them to stay (photo by Brian via Flickr)

Topic

Rotman School of Management

Nothing inspires consumer frustration quite like an airline flight delay. Researchers from the ��Ƶ's Rotman School of Management have used those viral meltdown moments – and the complaints they produce via the social media platform Twitter – to study how consumer "voice" may influence business behaviour.

"We thought complaints were an important part of the economy but until now, we haven’t had a systematic way to measure them," says study co-author Mara Lederman, an associate professor of strategic management at Rotman.

Researchers found that passenger complaints via Twitter increase when an airline's “on-time” performance gets worse. This was based on an analysis of approximately four million Tweets made to or about the top seven U.S. airline companies over a two-year period.

Their results suggest using social media to complain can be worthwhile so long as a company values the customer enough to respond and offer some incentive for them to stay. Meanwhile, companies may want to consider setting up dedicated complaint channels as a way of retaining valuable customers who might be at risk of leaving, says Lederman.

The accepted idea among economists is that markets act to discipline companies for poor performance as consumers will withdraw their business if they are not happy. Complaining – as opposed to switching – has been suggested as an alternate mechanism but, to date, has received much less attention.

The public nature of social media now makes it possible to track consumer complaints, the market circumstances under which they're made and how companies respond. This opens the door for studies that examine the purpose and impact of customer voice.

Researchers also found that the deterioration in on-time performance generated about 50 percent more complaints when the airline was the dominant carrier in the passenger’s local market. Airlines also responded more often when competition was limited and when the passenger mentioned the airline's loyalty program in their tweet.

These finding suggest that companies in low competition markets may have the most to lose from ticked-off customers because these customers generate high margins yet have the ability to go elsewhere if they are not happy, says Lederman. The same goes for customers who are invested in a company’s loyalty program – these are the very customers that are costly for the company to lose.

"In markets where you don't have a lot of competition, but you have some – voice might be effective because this is precisely when companies will care to retain customers who have been made unhappy," she says.

Lederman carried out the study with fellow Rotman researchers Joshua Gans, a professor of strategic management, and Avi Goldfarb, a professor of marketing.

Ten U of T social media stars to follow

Romi Levine — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 22:06:26 +0000

Ten U of T social media stars to follow

Romi Levine Mon, 02/06/2017 - 17:06

Cutline

U of T has many interesting faculty, students and alumni who offer interesting takes on politics, life and the economy (photo by ThoroughlyReviewed.com via Flickr)

Topic

��Ƶ's sharpest minds and wittiest wordsmiths are taking to Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to share their expert insights and unique perspectives with communities inside and outside the university.

Here are just a few to follow:

Sabrina Cruz NerdyAndQuirky

Even before her first year at U of T, Cruz was a YouTube star. The Schulich Leader has over 100,000 subscribers and millions of views.

Follow if: you like funny takes on pop culture, history and science

Dr. Mike Evans DocMikeEvans

Evans is an associate professor at ��Ƶ's medical school. His popular YouTube videos on health education attracted the likes of Apple who recruited him to work on a digital health care project.

Follow if: you want to learn more about health and wellness in a fun and entertaining way

Danielle Martin @docdanielle

Martin, an author and assistant professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, tweets about big ideas around innovation in health and medicine.

Follow if: you’re interested in learning how to make health care better

Jonathan Sun @jonnysun

Engineering alumnus Sun is a jack of all trades but is best known for his odd, yet hilarious, Twitter account which has inspired him to write a book.

Follow if: you need a good old-fashioned laugh

why do birds
suddenly appear
every time
you are near
just like me
they long to be
creeping u out with their beady eyes
— jomny sun (@jonnysun) January 17, 2017

Renée Hložek @reneehlozek

Astrophysics professor Hložek takes to Twitter for insight into our place in the universe.

Follow if: you’re into space talk and social justice

Aisha Ahmad @ProfAishaAhmad

Ahmad, an assistant professor at U of T Scarborough’s department of political science and the Munk School of Global Affairs, weighs in on the most pressing issues facing Canada and the U.S.

Follow if: you want thoughtful insight and good reads on the latest news

Adrian Phiffer @officeofadrianphiffer

Architect and lecturer at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design uses Instagram as a way of showcasing the work of his design firm while highlighting the creativity of his students.

Jeffrey Dvorkin @jdvorkin

At a time when the media is considered the official “opposition” by the Trump administration, commentary from people like Dvorkin, director of the journalism program at U of T Scarborough, is all the more important.

Follow if: you care about the future of journalism and freedom of the press

Joshua Gans @joshgans

Gans, Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship and professor of strategic management at U of T's Rotman School of Management, offers a snarky take on business and current affairs.

Follow if: you like to smirk while reading the latest on the Trump saga

Sarah Kaplan @sarah_kaplan

As director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy, Rotman School of Management Professor Kaplan takes on the worlds of business and equality and the ways they intersect.

Follow if: you’re fired up from the Women’s March

Do you have a favourite U of T tweeter, YouTuber or instagrammer? Let us know!

(photo at top by ThoroughlyReviewed.com via Flickr)

Twitter Canada exec visits U of T's Rotman School of Management

geoff.vendeville — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 22:42:11 +0000

Twitter Canada exec visits U of T's Rotman School of Management

geoff.vendeville Mon, 01/16/2017 - 17:42

Cutline

Rory Capern leads Twitter Canada's operations, focusing on media partnerships, marketing, communications, research and sales. He has a background in sales and business development in the tech sector with Google and Microsoft (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Author legacy

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

City & Culture

Twitter

Social Media

Rotman School of Management

Subheadline

Twitter Canada's managing director Rory Capern spoke about the future of the company and tech industry in Canada

In bursts of 140 characters or fewer, many ��Ƶ students and faculty communicate their ideas to the wider world.

For some, Twitter itself is a topic of study.

Mara Lederman, an associate professor at U of T’s Rotman School of Management, has recently analyzed tweets about major U.S. airlines and their daily on-time performance as she studies the relationship between companies and consumers. Alex Hanna (@alexhanna), an assistant professor in U of T Mississauga's Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology and the Faculty of Information, has researched how Twitter responds to U.S. presidential debates.

On Thursday, Twitter Canada’s managing director, Rory Capern, stopped by U of T to discuss innovation in Canada and how one of the world’s most widely used social media platforms is changing.

Canada offers an “amazing market in technology,” where some of the world’s brightest engineers can be found, Capern said.

For Twitter Canada, the country is also a laboratory where the company can test ideas without too many risks, he said.

Capern told the audience that Twitter has seen video consumption on the platform increase, especially in Canada, and so it is planning improvements to make it easier to watch and share videos.

After the talk, Capern provided three tips for students and academics looking to grow their Twitter following.

Capern's three tips:

Be deliberate about content: Capern said it helps to narrow the focus of your tweets to a few subjects that are important to you. “I curate my feed in a way that my audience is going to find interesting,” he said. Usually, he tweets about Twitter Canada, technology in Canada and his next greatest passion, golf.
Frequency of tweeting actually makes a difference: Capern tweets regularly. “What I do and what the best practice is, is to tweet on a calendarized basis,” he said. “Between 8 and 10 in the morning is a very good time.”
Use the full canvas: Through force of habit, many Twitter users think of it as a medium for text rather than videos or pictures. But Twitter is becoming increasingly visual. “Those tweets that have photos, articles and videos attached get more people’s attention,” Capern said.

Finger on the Twitter? U of T expert analyzes @realDonaldTrump

geoff.vendeville — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 15:23:40 +0000

Finger on the Twitter? U of T expert analyzes @realDonaldTrump

geoff.vendeville Mon, 01/09/2017 - 10:23

Cutline

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump answers questions from the media last month in Florida (photo by Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Author legacy

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

The 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, coined the phrase “bully pulpit” to describe the influence he wielded from the White House. For him, “bully” was an adjective meaning “excellent” or “first-rate.”

U.S President-elect Donald Trump has found his pulpit even before his inauguration: his Twitter account.

Since joining the platform in 2009, Donald Trump has amassed about 18 million followers at @realDonaldTrump – surpassing even the number of @POTUS followers, though he still has fewer than @BarackObama.

In messages of 140 characters or less, Trump has attacked foreign nations like China, rattled giant car manufacturers and pursued personal vendettas. China's state news agency last week retorted with the headline, “An obsession with Twitter foreign policy is undesirable.”

Early Monday morning, Trump lashed out at actress Meryl Streep who criticized him the night before during her Golden Globes speech for the lifetime achievement award. Trump tweeted that Streep was "one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood" and a "Hillary flunky."

Once he takes office Jan. 20, will Trump take a more presidential approach to social media?

U of T News spoke with Alex Hanna, an assistant professor at U of T Mississauga's Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology and U of T's Faculty of Information to get some insight. Hanna's research focuses on new and social media.

Obama is known as a social media savvy president. How does his style differ from Trump’s?

The Obama campaign was a very net savvy data-driven organization in 2008. The platform was still pretty new – it started in 2006. He was able to get an immense number of followers and used them as a pillar for fundraising.

As president, Barack Obama has been social media savvy. His White House was a very Vox.com-type of operation. They have video content, articles and a staff photographer who's catching Obama in candid shots. He's using social media in a way that's effective, but it's very manicured, very planned.

Donald Trump has a more chaotic approach. It doesn't seem planned. There are two theories on his social media usage. Either he's playing this incredibly complex ten-dimensional chess where he's seeing 20 moves in the future, and he's intentionally setting his surrogates against him – or he is actually chaotic. Occam's Razor tells us to go with the simplest explanation.

His account @realDonaldTrump has an even larger following than the presidential @POTUS account. Do you expect him to take over @POTUS after his inauguration? And will his tone change?

In the middle of 2016, people thought there would be this pivot and he was going to be more presidential, but I don't think that will happen. I expect he will keep his own handle because it's such a part of his brand. People have come to expect a particular kind of Twitter usage from that brand.

I think some of the tweets from the @POTUS account will be from his advisers and campaign staff.

There is a data analyst called David Robinson who did an analysis during the election in which he tried to determine which tweets were coming from Trump and which were by his campaign staff. He did a sentiment analysis in which he found the tweets that were generally angrier tweeted at bizarre times like 3 or 6 a.m. – those [were labelled as] Twitter for Android. While those that seemed more measured and more promotional were coming from an iPhone. I don't think there will be many iPhone tweets from @realDonaldTrump. Those would be migrated to @POTUS.

Is there something about the Twitter platform that just suits Trump's personality?

There's this idea in the literature on social media that Twitter itself produces this type of micro celebrity. It's the type of person who can present their thoughts in condensed form, tweet frequently, and produce easily digestible video content.

Even before he declared his candidacy, Trump was a micro celebrity. His first foray into politics was surrounding the birther movement.

He went off on other celebrities and institutions. He built up his Twitter following unlike other politicians, even though his party continues to use the platform in a measured, restricted way. Trump's personal style definitely lends itself to Twitter.

Trump is known for attacking people on Twitter. The New York Times printed a list of 289 people, places and things he's insulted. Will the tone of these tweets affect political discourse?

At least some of his tweets have brought out some ugly impulses in American civic life. His statements on immigration, building the border wall and creating a registry of U.S. Muslims have found some support in the U.S. electorate. And that's frightening. There was also his "Lock her up!" rhetoric about Hillary Clinton.

Some of that has seeped into U.S. discourse, and those are things I find most alarming about his language.

What kind of challenge does Trump’s tweeting pose for journalists trying to cover the White House?

One of the reasons Trump likes Twitter is that he gets to set the terms of the debate. He can be unpredictable. And he knows that when he tweets there will be press coverage.

There's a debate among journalists and people who study political communication about what the press should be doing here. The press is having a tough time. On the one hand, people are saying we need to have a heightened state of alarm and cover everything he says, a tweet could cause the next world war. These things have geopolitical and monetary consequences.

The other side says we need to hang back and not go nuts over every tweet. In some ways, they distract from more pressing issues like his business ties and possible conflicts of interest.