In the realm of U.S. elections, a pressing question has been raised regarding the impact of “microtargeting,” which involves tailoring persuasive messages to voters using extensive online data. A newly-published study conducted by MIT scholars challenges the notion that the “micro” aspect of this practice is a game-changer. Instead, the study suggests that while targeting can be effective in certain political contexts, using multiple attributes for microtargeting does not provide any additional benefits. The researchers hope that these findings will contribute to the ongoing discussion surrounding microtargeting in U.S. political campaigns.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, revealed that in a traditional messaging context focused on a single issue, targeting based on one attribute, such as party affiliation, can be 70% more persuasive in swaying policy support compared to showing a single ad to the entire population. However, targeting ads using multiple attributes did not provide any additional advantages. According to David Rand, an MIT professor and co-author of the study, “We found we got just as much persuasive advantage from targeting based on just one attribute as we did targeting on more attributes.”
The study authors include Ben Tappin, a postdoc at the University of London and a research affiliate at MIT’s Applied Cooperation Team; Chloe Wittenberg, a doctoral candidate in MIT’s Department of Political Science; Luke Hewitt, a visiting scholar at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society; Adam Berinsky, the Mitsui Professor of Political Science at MIT; and David Rand, who is also a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT and director of the Applied Cooperation Team.
Road-testing messages
Political microtargeting gained significant attention after the 2016 U.S. elections, when it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had used Facebook data to craft highly targeted messages for voters. However, the effectiveness of these ads has remained unclear. To address this question, the researchers conducted survey experiments using the Lucid online survey platform in 2022. They created advertisements for two issue-based campaigns and evaluated the impact of different ad strategies on shaping opinions. The study found that targeted ads performed better than other tactics, but ads based on multiple voter characteristics were not more effective than those based on just one characteristic.
The researchers acknowledge that their study provides insights into the potential impact of political microtargeting but note that its effectiveness could differ in real-world contexts due to various factors. Nevertheless, the study contributes valuable information to the ongoing debate about the promises and perils of microtargeting in political campaigns.
One ad does not fit all
While microtargeting may not possess the overwhelming influence that some fear, targeted political ads still offer advantages in many cases. David Rand emphasizes, “In terms of the implications for political advertising, it certainly seems like targeting is often going to be a good idea, and if you’re not doing that, you may be leaving persuasive power on the table. At the same time, it’s clearly not mind control.”
It is important to recognize that microtargeting in political persuasion differs from its use in business advertising. Generating the necessary data to train political targeting models and distribute the resulting ads is a challenging task. According to Rand, “In politics, it is much harder to obtain reliable information about voter attitudes and voting decisions—making it very difficult to effectively microtarget political ads at scale.”
The study’s findings highlight the importance of understanding the effectiveness of microtargeting in different contexts. The researchers hope that their work will contribute to a more informed discussion about the potential impact of political microtargeting on democratic systems.
More information:
Ben M. Tappin et al, Quantifying the potential persuasive returns to political microtargeting, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2216261120
Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Study: Microtargeting works, just not the way people think (2023, June 20) retrieved 20 June 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-06-microtargeting-people.html
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