Do You Know Anyone Who Voted In 2016 Who Changed Their Vote Because of Something They Read on Facebook? (9/11, Congress)

[LauraC]

I'm a little late on this but I don't know a single person who changed their vote from Dem to Rep or vice versa because of something they read online during 2016 regardless if the post came from one of the candidates, parties, big donors, PACs or the Russians. Do you? Do you know of any studies where they actually measured the success of these social media posts in changing people's minds?

I'm just reading about what Facebook turned in to Congress. Who had to read Facebook to find out Hillary Clinton was stumbling around at the 9/11 event? "What impact will this stumble have on #Hillary's campaign?" it read. I saw it on TV as it happened. You? And the Russian posts promoting the "Not My President" anti-Trump rally in NYC. They didn't organize it. They just posted about it.

"One ad promoted a Nov. 12 anti-Trump rally in New York City, titled "Not My President." Large anti-Trump rallies actually did take place around the country that day in major American cities. That doesn't mean the Russian accounts planned the events, but rather that they were piggybacking on existing protests and promoting them to like-minded people."

Lawmakers release troves of Facebook ads showing Russia's cyber intrusion - Chicago Tribune

So they got like-minded people revved up. How does getting "like-minded" people to do or say anything, change anything?

I can't even name a single CD poster who changed their mind from Hillary to Trump or vice versa after any threads.

[evilcart]

yes i do, why do you ask?

do you think nobody did? if so here is a little news for ya.

i directly know a couple who changed their vote based on a viral and very fake story about hillary they completely believed. and they made the error of spreading the lie and trying to sway others.

i had to sit through a long and awful dinner. I tried to explain to them that it was not correct, but they figured (and i quote) "Facebook would have deleted it or banned the user" if it were not real...

what do you do when faced with that kind of logic. did it change the election results ? i dont know. but i do know i am sick of telling this story to right wingers who think it could never happen...

[kat in aiken]

Perhaps even worse than some people changing their vote is the way that stuff in social media helped to entrench the division in this country. How much more strident, in their opinion of the other side, are people now, as opposed to 18 months ago? Much, much more so.

I have to say, in my own case, and as mentioned by several friends - the stuff being pushed in our faces time and time again, every time we got online, only made us dislike the other side more and more. The vote was only part of the damage that stuff did.

[juneaubound]

I didn't vote for the "other side" because of FB or even vote for any of the Republican faces during the primaries because of FB. But I did take a second look at John Kasich after I saw a video of him for the first time disrespecting a police officer.

In 2008 Gov Kasich was pulled over and ticketed by an officer for passing too close to an emergency vehicle. Three years later he was giving a presentation to the Ohio EPA, referred to the incident, and called the officer an idiot. When he was called out on it, he privately apologized to the officer, and the apology was accepted.

After confirming on a few other sites that the FB video and what occurred was legit, I filed Kasichs actions away as one part of a puzzle I was trying to put together re: the candidates who were standing in front of me. There might have been other posts as well but that's the one that really comes to mind.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTf_qyRXhxk

[Ceece]

Well I don't vote straight DEM or REP, I vote individually. And I don't use Facebook and haven't voted on anything since 2016.


I guess that doesn't answer your question though.