🎠Conservative Improv Theater
How right-wing media is like improv theater
Influencers are the performers in this real-life improv show that plays out on a stage of social media newsfeeds, podcasts, cable newsrooms and partisan online media outlets. The performers include political pundits and media personalities as well as a dynamic group of online opinion leaders who often ascend from the audience to the stage, in part by recognizing and exploiting the dynamics of digital media.
These influencers work together, performing a variety of roles based on a set of informal rules and performance conventions: sharing vague but emotionally resonant memes, "just asking questions" to each other, trolling a journalist, "evidencing" claims with data or photos -- sometimes taken out of context -- all the while engaging each other's content.
Fascinating spot-on analysis from Dr. Kate Starbird and Danielle Lee Tomson on the influencer- driven conservative media machine. The relevant take-away from this and other recent post-election analyses is that Democrats and liberals, in general, can't depend on conventional media and need to adopt a 365-day mindset for building relationships with voters rather than an election season-based one.