Jeremy Shtern | Social Media and Promotional Culture

Questions about the democratic impact of social media political advertising have recently burst their way onto policy agendas and into public consciousness. But if politics can be manipulated by targeted social media content, what are the implications for our daily lives as consumers and citizens when brands and advertisers use the affordances of social media to influence our thinking and choices? Based on 4+ years of research into social media advertising, Jeremy Shtern (Ryerson University) discusses the internet governance implications linked to the emergence of data-driven social media advertising, and makes the case for internet governance discussions to start paying more attention to the fact that advertising — historically a crucial policy agenda for governing electronic communication — is fundamentally shaping user experiences online and sponsoring the architecture of most public internet communication.

November 23 | 12PM Noon
CJ 1.114 Loyola Campus
Concordia University
7141 Sherbrooke Street