FAQ: Live Displays for Secretaries of State
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Written by Tess
Updated over a week ago

Have questions about your Live Display or CrowdTangle? Read through our commonly asked questions below and see if we’ve got your answer. 

What are Live Displays?

A Live Display is an interface that allows a user to see multiple CrowdTangle searches or lists in one place. CrowdTangle publishes LIve Displays around major media moments and topics so that organizations can keep track of what’s happening across social in the moment. In an effort to provide more transparency around the US 2020 elections, we have created Live Displays that are specifically focused on surfacing content from all 50 states about voting, elections, and civic engagement. Although anyone can access these Live Displays, CrowdTangle is working closely with Secretaries of State from around the country to make sure that the content being surfaced is relevant to their state.

What content can a CrowdTangle Live Display track?

CrowdTangle public Live Displays tracks the public (non-targeted, non-gated) content from influential verified Facebook profiles, Facebook Pages, Facebook Public Groups, and public Instagram accounts. 

CrowdTangle's database automatically adds Facebook Pages with more than 110,000 likes and public Instagram accounts with over 75,000 followers in addition to all verified accounts. CrowdTangle also tracks Pages that any CrowdTangle user manually adds to our system through a list. 

However, CrowdTangle is not able to track any private content. Any account, Page or public group that has privacy settings enabled, or any other type of targeting or gating (i.e. age-gating or geo-gating) cannot be added to the database.Likewise, it's not intended to track accounts from "regular" people.

What kind of metrics does CrowdTangle track?

CrowdTangle exclusively tracks data on public content: specifically interaction data and video views.CrowdTangle can tell you when something was posted, from which Page, account or verified profile it was posted from, and how many interactions (likes, comments, etc) it earned at any given point in time. Likewise, it can tell you how many views a video received when it was posted directly on a Page or account, and how many views it received if it was shared out by other Pages or accounts.

CrowdTangle doesn't track metrics like reach or impressions, however. Similarly, it doesn't provide demographic information on the users who have interacted with content. So while it can tell you a particular post has earned 1,000 likes, it can't tell you who liked it, where they were from or their age. Essentially, CrowdTangle will show only show information anyone could look up on a page or account, it just allows you to do it at scale.

I’m the primary stakeholder on a public Live Display and I would like to add a keyword or Page to one of the lists included in the live display. How would I do that?

In order to support all of the states included in this program, we cannot make edits in real time. For several changes, we ask that you submit your request via the Live Display Edits form. This form will typically be reviewed once a week, but will increase during particularly active times.

If you have three or less changes to your Live Display, you can request your change by sending an email to support@crowdtangle.com. In order for the changes to be made your email must include the name of the list or keyword search you’re trying to edit, and the Facebook or Instagram URL or keyword you are adding or removing. Any change that requires a new list or column should be submitted via the form. If there’s an urgent request, please reach out to your CrowdTangle point of contact.

I’m the primary stakeholder on a public Live Display and I would like to add several new accounts and keywords. 

Please use the form shared for Live Display edits. Through that form, you’ll have the ability to add more content by providing accounts you’d like to add as a URL directly into the form. You can also add keywords directly through the form as well. Alternatively, there’s an option within the form to upload a spreadsheet listing new accounts or keywords to be added. For the spreadsheet, please refer to the spreadsheet format shown in the form to limit the turnaround time for those additions.

I’m seeing a lot of content that seems to be coming from outside the state the Live Display is meant to be covering, why is that?

CrowdTangle does not have the ability to geo-gate content. Instead, we surface content by using keywords and accounts to focus in on specific communities. If you’re finding a lot of content that’s outside the state or seems irrelevant, submit that concern via the Live Display Edits form. 

Can I share my Live Display with others? 

Yes, live displays are public and are meant to be shared. We ask that you use the URL posted on facebook.com/GPA to share more broadly starting in November.

I’m seeing something that may lead to human harm in a Live Display, what should I do?

Reach out to your Facebook contact immediately.If someone seems to be an immediate danger to themselves or others call 911.

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