I appreciate that some folks want me to publish more frequently. I find myself spending time responding to what others are saying on other people’s Substacks.
I’m still in a Spanish class, working on a discussion of the work of Lydia Cabrera, and that can get time consuming. But most of the time, I volunteer for FT6.
For example, yesterday, Thom Hartmann discussed “We Need a Democratic Revolution to Overcome the Rightwing Media Machine!” He’s right. The corporate media is interested in profits not in in morality or honesty.
Thom is a NY Times bestselling author with 34 books in 17 languages and has the nation's #1 progressive radio program. He was a psychotherapist, and international relief worker. He went to a seminary and attended a police academy. His program is estimated by industry magazine Talkers to have 7 million unique listeners per week. As of March 2016, the show was carried on 80 terrestrial radio stations in 37 states, as well as on SiriusXM Progress channel 127. I watch him via Youtube where he has 341K subscribers. I also subscribe to his Substack. I agree with him most of the time. I think he and FT 6 have the capacity to go viral.
After another commenter argued that Tic Toc has the most potential, I responded. Broadcast media vs social media.
I am banned on X. I guess they think my many postings of "Trump hates dogs" is spam. Facebook wants a copy of my driver's license. Wants my SSN.
I don't know that Tic Toc is the new radio. IMHO it's true that the effect of social media is deeper. more personal than broadcast radio. My niece, who is in the field, says that ads on social media are three times more cost effective. That's because many "influencers" have a personal connection with their followers. I had law clerks tell me that when they had interviews with Big Law firms, they were asked what social media services they used and how many followers they had. Maybe that, typing speed and computer skills are probably as important as academic achievement and work experience.
…..
Although Oldandintheway (who commented , using the name of one of my favorite albums) references Tic Tok, Instagram and Facebook are bigger. They are owned by the same company. The way it should work, when a message is sent to someone the user is following, that same message is sent to the followers. Thom has 13K followers. Taylor Swift, the Number 1 Democratic influencer, who endorsed Biden in 2020, is Time Magazine woman of the year, and who is in msm every day, has 283.4 million followers. If she is sent a message, all those followers could hypothetically receive them. The cost for sending that message is zero ($0.00).
In a nutshell it is more cost productive for an advertiser to use social media. Ads usually generate "hits." X has a premium program ($16/mo.) that treats ordinary users like advertisers and if the user generates sufficient hits, is compensated. BTW Taylor Swift also has 79 Million followers on X.
So it could be that if Thom gets a good review of his new book from a Taylor Swift follower, it may generate more revenue that all broadcast media combined. And it may provide him with many more followers. Multiply Taylor Swift by other influencers, and consider the future value.
Meanwhile if we want to make the media more equitable, we need to sweep the elections. FT6 registers more democrats to save democracy -- and perhaps free speech. This could be a the means to a democratic revolution to overcome the rightwing media machine
https://voterizer.org/
Many of you have more followers than I have. Millions of unregistered people trend Democratic. If you want to help save democracy, please join me and forward the FT6 link to your followers to start the ball rolling.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Write when you can. I find what you have to say important.
Dan, ignore Chuck Campbell.
BTW, I got so upset about Trump’s delays, appeals and other shenanigans I ended up with a heart attack. I am recovering but can’t invest my 100% at the moment but I WILL return to the fight.
I have great respect for you and am grateful we have people like you who care about taking action on behalf of our country.
I wonder what the grandparents who fought in WWII are saying about these MAGATS?