“Mindful posting” is a concept invented by Matt Yglesias, but as far as I can tell he hasn’t written an easily linkable summary of it, so I’m writing one.
Mindful posting is posting on social media in a way that is likely to convince undecided voters or voters who are considering not turning out. Campaigns spend millions of dollars on ads that people mostly ignore. But people are reading your social media accounts on purpose, and so they might pay attention to you. Your social media posts have power, and you should use them wisely. In this post, I’m going to generally assume you’re an American opposed to Donald Trump, but mindful posting is a practice that can be taken up by people from any country or political party.
How can you practice mindful posting?
First: almost no one knows anything about state-level or local races, so convincing people to vote the way you want in those races is easier. If your social media is followed by a lot of people who live close to you, consider posting more about races in your area, especially competitive ones. Even if you primarily care about national politics, remember that it’s hard for a Democratic president to get anything done without a cooperative House and Senate. And local politics matter too. Want to build more housing? Want your local police force to do its job (solving felonies) and not do things that are not its job (violating civil liberties, murdering random people)? Want your school system to teach phonics? That’s local politics, baby!
While I’m mostly assuming this post’s readership is American, this is a point I’d like to particularly address to my non-American readers. If you aren’t American, and most of your followers aren’t American, consider not posting about American politics! I realize this is substantially Americans’ fault (both because we think we’re the only country in the world and because we elected Donald Trump), but consider focusing your social media posts on the country your followers might actually affect.
Second: Post positive things about Democrats. Donald Trump has been a politician in the public eye for nearly a decade at this point. People have had ample opportunity to learn that Trump is a corrupt rapist felon who tried to do a coup, and more information to this effect rarely shifts their viewpoint. Either they like that kind of thing, or they hate it and they’re gritting their teeth and putting up with it because they are scared of the Democrats. In fact, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden had record unfavorability ratings, with more than half of Americans disliking each candidate and a quarter disliking both.
But Kamala Harris is a clean slate, and as people get to know her better they’re liking her more. You need to offer undecided voters or voters that might stay home someone to vote for, not someone to vote against.
Yes, I agree this is stupid. I agree that people should be motivated to vote just because they don’t want to be governed by a corrupt rapist felon aspiring dictator. But if people were inclined to do that he wouldn’t be the Republican candidate for president, would he? Say nice things about Kamala Harris.
Third: Post about issues that convince people. I see two basic approaches here. First, you can raise the salience of issues that people agree with Kamala Harris on. Right now, these issues are abortion,1 education, health care, LGBTQ+ issues, and the environment (although consider checking the polls every so often to see how they change, Kamala’s a bit of an unknown right now). Second, you can raise awareness of Harris’s opinions on issues that normal people care about. Right now, these issues are the government/poor leadership, immigration, the economy in general, and high cost of living/inflation.
When posting about these issues, try as best as you can to be normie-friendly. Imagine the swing voters you know and target your posts to them. Don’t say that Trump is going to commit genocide against trans people, that makes you sound like a kook; probably steer clear of sports eligibility and transition surgery for minors, too. Say that the Biden-Harris administration banned healthcare discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation. Don’t try to argue with people that asylum is a human right and actually they should support open borders; say that the Biden-Harris adminstration barred illegal immigrants from receiving asylum and is trying to end the chaos at the border while Republicans block bipartisan border-security bills for political gain. Steer away from any environmental messaging that implies any personal sacrifices from anyone whatsoever; avoid climate change and talk about air and water quality, which are more popular among Republicans. If you’re going to talk about poor leadership, emphasize everything that’s good about Kamala Harris, not everything that’s wrong with Trump. But maybe skip that and talk about the Biden/Harris administration’s cap on insulin prices instead.
If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably a political weirdo, and the idea of maintaining message discipline might feel uncomfortable and dishonest. I too want us to welcome asylum seekers, make sacrifices to fight climate change, and let seventeen-year-olds get bottom surgery. But you’re not going to convince swing voters to change all their opinions in the next four months, and you might convince them to vote for Kamala Harris.
I don’t think you should say things you don’t believe: if you think the Biden-Harris administration’s border policies are an atrocity, don’t say they’re great because Trump would be worse. But you can choose to talk more about issues that you, Harris, and swing voters all agree on, and less about issues where there isn’t a consensus between the three groups. Instead of letting your social media posts be driven by the controversy of the day (itself usually not important or an expression of your most dearly held beliefs), focus on the issues where you might convince people to vote for Harris. And you probably aren’t posting maximally honestly on social media, either: you’re saying funny things, or things that will get a lot of likes, or things that won’t get you dogpiled. Consider, additionally, shading your political posts to appeal to swing voters.
If you want to make all your political posting mindful posting, I’m all for it. But most of us are going to want to get into fights about open borders and Trump’s felony convictions and intersex women at the Olympics, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You can always post somewhat more mindfully than you did before: post about state, local, and non-American elections as well as the U.S. presidential election; meme about the insulin thing alongside saying gasoline prices should be higher; say more nice things about Kamala Harris in between falsely accusing J. D. Vance of having sex with couches.
Is mindful posting the best possible way to improve the world? No. Don’t mindfully post instead of focusing on your job as a public defender or a teacher or a home health care aide or a development economist. But a lot of us are going to be doomscrolling in the next few months, feeling powerless in the face of the rising tide of authoritarianism in America. And I believe that it is always, always better for you and for the world to do something (no matter how small) than to feel a helpless sense of dread.
When you notice yourself obsessing over the polls or the Harris campaign’s strategy, or the latest parade of horrors from the Trump campaign, stop. Take a deep breath. Send off a quick post about Harris’s views on healthcare or abortion or the economy. You’ll feel better, and you just might shift a vote.
Thing of Things will be doing its part by regularly abortionposting until the election.
> While I’m mostly assuming this post’s readership is American, this is a point I’d like to particularly address to my non-American readers. If you aren’t American, and most of your followers aren’t American, consider not posting about American politics! I realize this is substantially Americans’ fault (both because we think we’re the only country in the world and because we elected Donald Trump), but consider focusing your social media posts on the country your followers might actually affect.
So I've been doing this for a while on my socials, focusing posts on general policy proposals or "local"(i.e. my country's) issues, and I can tell you why content creators from other countries don't tend to do that: You get way less money that way. Your potential audience is just way smaller due to language alone, not to mention the sheer number of people with high disposable income in the US. This then leads to a vicious cycle where foreigners learn more about the US which makes the amount of people that can watch your content and give you money higher if you cover the US, etc etc. Now there are of course content creators that focus on covering a country other than the US, but they're not nearly as numerous, don't reach the same level of wealth and fame, and have a way harder time starting up.
I really expected this to be less politically strategic and more focused on not saying things you don’t mean or starting stupid arguments. I wonder if “strategic posting” would be a better description?
I also think the “people are reading your social media accounts on purpose, and so they might pay attention to you” argument is overused. I read social media to see someone’s unique insights or humor or art. When people switch from posting those to posting content that they don’t want to post but feel they ought to post, it’s often very obvious. When I visit Tumblr blogs outside my usual circle, they’re often clogged with page after page of reblogged GoFundMe posts, which are just as frustrating as any political ad.