Research

Academic work

• We have finally seen behind the parties data machine, A/B testing at the 2019 General Election. Election Analysis (forthcoming), 2020. Tristan Hotham, 11th December, 2019

Research in blogs

• General Election 2019: what are the parties telling us via their targeted adverts? PSA News Blog. 11th December, 2019.

• The digital campaign: Targeted advertising in the 2019 General Election. PSA News Blog, 6th December, 2019.

• We need to talk about A/B testing: Brexit, attack ads and the election campaign. LSE Brexit Blog, 13th November, 2019.

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Journalism based upon my research

• ITV Election Night coverage. ITV News. 12/13th December, 2019.

• Spending on Facebook political ads reveals ‘complicated battleground’ as Hull heads to the polls. Hull Live. 12th December, 2019.

• UPDATE 1-Thousands of UK political ads missing from Facebook archive searches. CNBC News. 10th December, 2019

• Thousands of UK Political Ads Went Missing From Facebook Archive Searches. New York Times. 10th December, 2019

• Political ads disappear from Facebook tracking tool in ‘catastrophic loss’ for transparency campaigners. The Independent. 10th December, 2019.

• Researchers fear ‘catastrophe’ as political ads ‘disappear’ from Facebook library. Sky News. 10th December, 2019.

• The Big Brexit Bet That Isn’t Paying Off. Bloomberg Opinion. 6th December, 2019. Using research I undertook for Who Targets Me on Liberal Democrat marginals.

• The Tories are using Facebook to wipe out the Lib Dem vote. Wired. 7th December, 2019. Using research I undertook for Who Targets Me on Conservative targeting.

• Tories hiding Boris Johnson from London voters in Facebook adverts. Evening Standard. 4th December, 2019.

This story was based upon research I had undertaken into Conservative targeting, you can read it here and here.

• lo fi boriswave: Why are the Conservatives posting 71-minute hypnotic videos to YouTube? New Statesman. 26th November, 2019.

• Voters ‘used as lab rats’ in political Facebook adverts, warn analysts. Observer/Guardian. 9th November, 2019.

• This story went on to be featured on the Andrew Marr show. 
  The full write up of the research is available here and here.

• Facebook is restricting search results – is this taking transparency seriously. The Conversation. April 11th, 2018.  

• Facebook risks starting a war on knowledge. The Conversation. August 17th, 2018. 

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Journalism features

• How the Conservatives won the social media campaign. The Economist. 16th January, 2020.

• General Election 2019: Labour presented a more optimistic social media campaign than the Conservatives, but it failed to translate to voters. iNews. 13th December, 2019.

• The real impact of political ads on social media. The Drum. 12th December, 2019.

• Iain Dale show. LBC. 11th December, 2019.

• Jeremy Corbyn has reached nearly 650k people online – and reached beyond his base. The Mirror. 11th December, 2019.

• Facebook charges more for ads that aim to cross the political divide. New Scientist. 11th December, 2019.

• Interview on BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester. 11th December, 2019.

• A Tory social media blitz is taking over Facebook and YouTube. The Telegraph, 10th December, 2019.

• Snapchat enjoys a bump in political advertising. Financial Times, 8th December, 2019.

• UK election: parties take battle for ideas to social media. France 24 via AFP. 7th December, 2019. This article via the Agence France-Presse also featured internationally via Gulf News, Malay Mail, IstoÉ Dinheiro, La Libre Belgium ans El Universal.

• UK Election: The main parties embrace a local digital strategy to win over voters. First Draft News. November 23rd, 2019.

• UK Election: How political parties are targeting voters on Facebook, Google and Snapchat ads. First Draft News. November 14th, 2019.

• Drive-time Facebook campaign report. BBC Radio Bristol. 21st November, 2019.

• Report on Facebook advertising – BBC North East and Cumbria. 4th December, 2019.

• Report on A/B testing. Channel 5 News. November 20th, 2019

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Conference presentations

• Is it party leader pages or party pages that matter most on UK Facebook? Presentation given at the 2019 PSA Conference, Nottingham.

• Researching Facebook in troubled times. Presentation given at the 2018 SWDTP Conference, Bristol.

• Facebook and Big Data: Has it changed party campaigning in Britain forever? Presentation given at the 2016 EPOP Conference, Canterbury.