John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Facebook & Negative Ads

Facebook will slowly undermine the effectiveness of negative political advertising.

Oh, you think I jest?

Seriously, I believe there’s a connection–and that over time Facebook will slowly erode the shock impact—and therefore the political and electoral impact that political campaigns have relied on for decades by using political attack ads to help defeat opponents.

Really. I do.

Why?

Not because people will be on Facebook instead of watching political ads on TV or because the ads will somehow run on Facebook or that voters will start getting political information on Facebook—none of that. Rather, I think Facebook is facilitating an overdue cultural correction in America. Namely, making us less prudish, secretive and judgmental (of ourselves and others).

Remember Mrs Crabtree from Bewitched? The nosy neighbor always shocked at any behavior she’d spy that wasn’t befitting a model 1950s imaginary TV family? We voters have been a little like that the past 40 years–even though we would hate the think of ourselves as “Nosy Neighbor Voters” (to make up a new voting block moniker, like “Soccer Moms.”)

But I think it’s true. Don’t you–at least to some extent?

A good deal has been written about how Facebook encourages narcissism. Perhaps a little. But not nearly as much as it has fostered more open and honest sharing about how we daily think and act in all too human ways.

I mean, think about it. What would Mrs. Crabtree share about herself on Facebook? A recipe or two?

Facebook. Facilitating, one "like" at a time, the end of an era. What's on your mind, Mrs Crabtree? It's OK, we won't tell the neighbors.

Maybe over time she’d chill out and admit she’s a voyeur and getting help with weekly therapy and medication. For now, though, the Mrs. Crabtrees of the world are simply watching what others write on Facebook and telling others who increasingly couldn’t care less. And although there are all sorts of personal abuses and overshares on Facebook, in the end, Mrs. Crabtree will lose.

And when the minor faults of political candidates are overtaking the airwaves again a few years hence, instead of acting “Shocked. Shocked!” We’ll be more likely to shrug and say, “Yeah, that actually happened to me a couple of years ago. Not a big deal. In fact, I posted on Facebook yesterday about how glad I was to have that behind me.”