November 19, 2019: Twitter’s decision to ban political advertising on its own platform attracted major attention from leading political figures including President Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. However, the general public was far less engaged: just 22% of American adults paid attention and know “a lot” about that decision.[1]

This disconnect was demonstrated in an earlier Number of the Day showing the problem of “confusing the Twitter universe with reality.” While the social media platform is often a source of information for journalists and others, “just 2.2% of Americans generate 80% of all tweets.”

And, it’s not just Twitter. Recent Facebook policy changes about political advertising generated significant comment in political and journalistic circles. But just 19% of Americans were following the discussion closely enough to know a lot about the policy change.[2]

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Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

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