紐時賞析／避免品牌合作網紅涉及政治 行銷業者推「風險概況」工具

行銷公司正利用人工智慧，協助分析網紅並預測他們是否將對這場選舉發表意見。（紐約時報）

Brands Love Influencers (Until Politics Get Involved)

品牌喜歡網紅…直到政治介入

Brands love when social media stars take to Instagram or TikTok to advertise their soap, probiotic sodas, makeup and more. But many of those same brands are eager to avoid influencers who discuss politics.

許多品牌喜歡社羣媒體明星用Instagram或TikTok來爲他們的肥皂、益生菌蘇打水、化妝品等打廣告。但這些品牌當中，許多也亟欲避開討論政治的網紅。

Making sure the two don’t mix has become a fraught exercise in the growing, and often unpredictable, influencer industry.

確保兩者不會混在一起，在不斷增長且通常不可預測的網紅產業中，已成爲一種充滿挑戰的任務。

With the presidential election looming, some marketing agencies have started to pitch advertisers on new tools that grade the so-called brand safety of social media personalities. Some of the tools even use artificial intelligence to predict the likelihood that a particular influencer will discuss politics in the future.

隨着總統選舉即將到來，一些行銷公司已着手向廣告主推銷新工具，將所謂社羣媒體名人的品牌安全分級。這類工具中，有些甚至使用人工智慧，預測一名特定網紅未來討論政治的可能性。

A tool recently introduced by Captiv8, a marketing firm that helps advertisers such as Walmart and Kraft Heinz connect with influencers, uses AI to analyze mentions of social media stars in online articles and then determines whether they are likely to discuss elections or “political hot topics.” The firm also assigns letter grades to creators based on their posts, comments and media coverage, where an “A” means very safe and a “C” signals caution. The grades incorporate categories such as “sensitive social issues,” death and war, hate speech or explicit content.

幫助沃爾瑪與卡夫亨氏等廣告主與網紅聯繫的行銷公司Captiv8，最近推出一種工具，利用AI分析線上文章中提到的社羣媒體明星，然後判定他們是否有可能討論選舉或「政治熱門話題」。這間公司也以創作者的發文、評論與媒體報導爲基礎，用字母幫他們評級，「A」意味非常安全，而「C」表示要小心。該評級包含「敏感社會議題」、死亡與戰爭、仇恨言論或露骨內容等類別。

Viral Nation, another influencer agency, also offers marketers a product that makes “risk profiles” for creators. The tool, which the company has been using for more than year, assesses years of posts — including hours of dialogue from videos — and can detect whether people are holding weapons or protest signs in their content, even if those elements aren’t mentioned in captions or audio.

另一家網紅經紀公司Viral Nation也向行銷業者提供一種產品，爲創作者製作「風險概況」。該公司一年多來一直在使用的這個工具，可評估多年的發文，包括影像中的數小時對話，並可查出人們是否在他們發表的內容中持有武器或抗議標語，哪怕這些要素沒在標題或音訊提到。

“Brands are definitely asking for this,” Krishna Subramanian, a founder of Captiv8, said. “We noticed from the election before, people wanted to know — have creators talked about the election and talked about the president? Because they don’t want to be in that conversation.”

Captiv8一位創辦人蘇布拉曼尼安表示，「品牌當然正在要求這個」。他說，「我們從上一場選舉注意到，人們想知道創作者有談過這場選舉跟這位總統嗎？因爲他們不想參與這種對話」。

The way marketers gauge suitability online directs billions of dollars in spending and helps shape discourse on the internet. After many major brands faced consumer boycotts during Donald Trump’s presidency for inadvertently running digital ads alongside conspiracy theories and terrorist propaganda, companies created new industry guidelines to help them avoid funding harmful content on social media. Since then, many advertisers have also stopped running messages in news outlets in the name of brand safety.

行銷業者判斷線上適合性的方式，引導數十億美元的支出，並協助形塑網路上的論述。許多大品牌在川普的總統任期內，因無意中在陰謀論與恐怖分子宣傳旁邊投放數位廣告，而面臨消費者抵制，多家公司隨後制定新的行業規範，協助他們避免資助社羣媒體上的有害內容。此後，許多廣告主也以品牌安全的名義，停止在新聞機構投放訊息。

Some conservatives say the industrywide definitions have unfairly dinged right-wing sites.

一些保守派表示，整個產業的定義已不公平地損害右翼網站。

文／Sapna Maheshwari　譯／周辰陽