How Social Media Advertising is Disrupting Political Campaigns

In his latest online video ad, Donald Trump uses an out-of-context quote from Jeb Bush to simultaneously attack his rival GOP presidential candidate and stoke racial anxieties about undocumented immigration. Like all of Trump's other ads posted to Instagram, the video does not include any disclaimer stating that it was paid for by the Trump campaign. 

Why didn't Trump attach that otherwise ubiquitous disclaimer? The reason is that the Federal Election Commission doesn't require the disclaimer on online ads that a candidate's campaign did not pay to place or promote.

The FEC explains on its website that it generally requires public communications paid for by the campaigns of candidates for federal office to include a disclaimer noting just that. The definition of such political advertising, however, "does not include Internet ads, except for communications placed for a fee on another person's web site."

In other words, candidates are freed from the disclaimer rule on social media sites like Instagram.

There are also exemptions for small items, like bumper stickers and buttons, and impractical items, like skywriting and water towers. But Trump's ads garner much more attention, since almost anything he does, says or posts these days receives extended free play on TV and online news sites.

Some supporters of campaign finance regulation think the Trump ads should not be exempt. "It would seem to me a disclaimer should be applied," said Larry Noble, counsel for the Campaign Legal Center and former general counsel for the FEC.

Getting the FEC to make such a ruling would be difficult, however. Last year, the commission was asked by the Democratic firm Revolution Messaging whether political ads aimed at mobile phones and tablets could be exempt from the disclaimer requirement. The FEC deadlocked in a 3-3 vote, with Republican commissioners in support of the exemption and Democratic commissioners opposed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-instagram-disclaimer_55e5eed5e4b0aec9f354b857 

Future Predictions for Online Marketing

Advertising online has grown exponentially in the last few years, and appears to be one of the most dynamic industries out there. New trends will be emerging within brand publishing in the future, and  here is my take on a few of them:

1) Native advertising will not be a bad word! It will be viewed as content which consumers actually enjoy and want to see - they can ignore it if it doesn't interest them, and they can engage if it does. Further, they will be aware the entire time that it is very clearly sponsored, and it wont come as a shock. The feeling of betrayal will slowly pass - as it has been doing thus-far.

2) News organizations and corporations will eventually have sponsored content and stories that they will be promoting, and it will not be questioned.

3) Transparency will become a big goal for the majority of advertisers - it will help separate quality content and campaigns from the rest.

4) Though Social media will offer simpler privacy tools, they will continue to get more personal and expect you to share each moment of your life. Apps will greatly aid to this process, and Facebooks open API will facilitate app-makers posting all the things you do to your timeline so that you can continue sharing and make the world more "open and connected."

5) With time, there will be an uprising against the Buzzfeeds and HuffPo's of the world - the average intellectuals will crave an outlet for quality, indepth writing and reporting, and the journalism community would be more than happy to provide it. Nuance is still craved at a deeper level by many.

6) Big-Data wont be as big anymore - we would have figured out which parts of it are relevant and which parts are just fluff. Data will be judged by its applicability and impact, versus its quantity.

Though some of these trends are already happening, it will be interesting to see how they pan out in the future, especially against the backdrop of ongoing internet legal reform. We can only wait and watch!