During the 2016 campaign the smart money is on big data. Even old-school snail mail and robocalls are powered by cutting edge social media strategies and data analysis.

No matter what end of the political spectrum you're on, there's one universal takeaway from the Iowa caucus: Data matters.
The winning candidates used big data effectively to target and activate voters. This season we're on the trail, and deep in the data that matters. Episode 27 of the TechRepublic podcast is the second of our three-episode series about how technology is shaping the 2016 US presidential election, and what you can learn from it to improve your business.
On the podcast this week we discussed:
- How big data won the Iowa caucus
- Data journalism and storytelling
- Getting started with data analysis
Editor-in-chief Jason Hiner and I discuss how smart campaigns use big data and social media to win elections.
The TechRepublic podcast is available for free in the podcast feed (subscribe via RSS or iTunes). You can also listen directly in the embedded player below.
Listen to more TechRepublic podcasts.
Also see:
- Big data is the new ground game: How Ted Cruz won Iowa (TechRepublic)
- Election Tech 2016: How social media and big data changed everything, a Q&A with Joe Trippi (TechRepublic)
- Election Tech 2016: The 4 technologies that will decide the next US president (TechRepublic)
- Election Tech 2016: Social media data tells a different story on the first US presidential debate of 2016 (TechRepublic)
- Election Tech 2016: Data from social shows big Sanders jump from Jan 17 debate (TechRepublic)
- US presidential candidate websites easy to hack, says report (ZDNet)
- Tech policy in campaign 2016: Where do candidates stand on encryption? (ZDNet)