Joey Fingers Now Sniffing Up On "Suburban FaceBook Empathy Moms"

A new era in Feel Dumb Politics.

So far, Biden's paltry digital team of about 25 people has decided mostly to eschew the combative fare preferred by the president's campaign in favor of uplifting content designed to inspire. The rub, as no one understands better than Trump, is that the social media platforms -- and the algorithms that power them -- reward bombast and conflict. Amid the collage of newly published saccharine videos posted on Biden's Facebook page, it's the Trump-bashing ones that usually have the most views.

But Biden's campaign is betting that its strategy -- which reminds one of Upworthy, the go-to site for feel-good news -- has the benefit of being true to Biden and more effective in creating a core of enthusiastic supporters online.

In recent weeks, the campaign has been testing that vision. It posted a compilation of coronavirus acts of kindness with the tagline, "When we're told to stay apart, we still come together." It has pushed out posts that attempt to replicate Biden's trenchant one-on-one moments with voters, such as a livestreamed "digital rope line." It hosted a "Soul of the Nation Saturday" to mark the one-year anniversary of his announcement for president and a "Biden Brunch," telling supporters that "Mimosas optional, but encouraged!"

"Empathy is just as good at getting engagement," Biden's digital director Rob Flaherty said in an interview. "The suburban Facebook empathy moms that we think about a lot, those folks are just hungry for the contrast between the darkness of Donald Trump and the goodness of Joe Biden."

Via Morning Rising.

Good observation there: "'Civility politics' are just about protecting the status quo."

That's what all of our Muh Normz whiners are doing, arguing for the indefensible -- the status quo -- while pretending to argue for something else entirely.

posted by Ace at 01:00 PM

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