Thread by @rowlsmanthorpe

And so it begins. The Conservatives welcome the new PM by pumping Facebook full of Boris Johnson ads. They're running an astonishing 554 versions of these things. Almost as if they're gathering data for an election...

The ads link here: a survey page on the Conservative website asking "What’s the most important issue for you and your family right now?"

You'll be amazed to hear you have give your name, postcode and email address "to make sure your views get heard"

views.conservatives.com/priorities

"Click submit to make sure your views get heard."

Oh look! Submit is a nice pink colour, and if I click I get to see more

"By clicking submit you pledge to your everlasting soul for the uses of the Conservative Party. Also, you'll get emails. Lots of emails"

Facebook video ad take of that Downing Street speech. Tone: combative and anti-Corbyn. "Join now and build a movement!"

Somehow the message is slightly diminished when you know there are hundreds of alternative versions, because AB testing, but perhaps that's just me

This is a serious effort. Hundreds and hundreds of ads, with fractional differences between them. Hardly any money spent: at this stage, I'm guessing, they're figuring out what works best, then they'll refine from there.

Dude's literally wearing an AI t-shirt. Top trolling

https://twitter.com/rowlsmanthorpe/status/1154094257092923393

Look at the faces in the foreground v background. If I was a cynical man, I'd say this was a calculated attempt to dampen down the Islamophobia issue in order to hammer Corbyn on anti-Semitism

Luckily I'm not, so I'm sure it was just a reflection of our beautiful diverse country

There's more, but it's too late for this. I'm going to bed. Goodnight!