Read on Twitter
As we head into the final stretch of the Presidential campaigns, the large social media platforms like @facebook @twitter and @youtube have an enormous opportunity to rise to the occasion and increase the signal-to-noise ratio of our national political conversation.
These platforms have been under fire for the ways in which they can distort earnest political dialogue: foreign interference, fake accounts, troll farms, etc. etc.
But of course they also provide a platform for multitudes to express their views to their communities and the wider world. (As I am doing right now.) Still, they can do more.
Every new medium brings opportunities and challenges. They also allow the consolidation of power in new platforms. With this power comes civic responsibility.
One example was the advent of the nationwide broadcast networks and the creation of televised debates in which private companies effectively donated valuable airtime so that Americans could tune in to see the candidates engage with each other and a neutral interlocutor.
The debates still live on, but they reflect changes in our media landscape. Once "must see TV", ratings have decreased in recent years.
Audiences have moved to other platforms where engagement is more asynchronous. Many experience the debates cut up and remixed on social media. We get the most theatrical moments, not necessarily the most informative ones.
It doesn& #39;t have to be this way. These companies rake in tens of billions in ad revenue because the platforms are very good mediums for explaining products to different audiences.
Consider the typical Facebook ad. A friendly voiceover of a product demo that walks you through the features and benefits of some new gizmo or service.
So here is an opportunity for social media: provide a new kind of platform for informed political dialogue in the lead up to the election. And do it at scale. How?
Each of the major platforms should commit to set aside a significant slice of timeline inventory for a new kind of debate format. Short, asynchronous, low drama.
They should invite the candidates to record video responses to several discrete and undisclosed questions devised by a news organization (perhaps the @AP). Each candidate separately records a 1 minute answer to each of the questions. Minimalist production / white background.
Questions could touch on major issues such as national defense, social security, healthcare, equity, etc. All the usual fare for a TV debate.
Here& #39;s the trick: the platforms would commit to insert the segments such that every voting-age American sees each candidate& #39;s response to each question a substantial (and equal) number of times.
This would create positive incentives for candidates to participate. If they do not, their opponent gets the free airtime anyway. Critically, neither of the candidates needs to agree to anything. The social platforms could "just do it" by making the commitment.
