How Social Media Impact the 2016 Election
Campaigning in the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat Age
For the first time in history, presidential candidates from both parties are using social media on multiple platforms to pave their way to the Oval Office.
While Obama’s Presidential win in 2008 was known as the Facebook Election, every candidate in the 2016 election strives to maintain a dominant online presence. Their campaign teams are hitting every platform, but the most used and followed are Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.
Social networks provide users with information easily and rapidly, making it one of the primary ways many US citizens — especially millennials — access and read news. Politicians have caught on, making social media outreach a groundbreaking tactic in election history.
The question is how effective social media in a presidential election can be and what does this mean for future elections? The social media campaign is still so new that the rules remain unwritten. This leaves ample room for lessons in public relations and even geography.
TV attack ads have been overtaken by Twitter beefs, and many people may gauge a candidate’s popularity or standing by how many followers they have. Top candidates from both parties owe social media credit for both helping and hurting their campaigns.
Donald Trump brings his pop culture online persona into the race
Most candidates credit their social media presence to technologically adept interns or PR-trained campaign managers. This is not the case with GOP frontrunner and famous billionaire, Donald Trump. With 6.31 million followers, Trump is solely responsible for what goes on his Twitter account, which makes his presence stand out in the presidential race.
Instead of using his Twitter to comment on social, financial, or environmental issues (aside from an old tweet claiming the Chinese created climate change), Trump typically uses his 140 characters to lob insults at the competition and even journalists and other nations.
If you’ve followed Trump on social media or at his presidential rallies, you’ve probably heard his remarks specifically directed at former candidate, Jeb Bush (R), calling him a “loser,” “a total embarrassment to himself and his family,” and in this case, a “sad sack.”
Some would argue that Trump’s approach to social media (saying whatever appears to be on his mind), has helped him in his campaign rather than hurt him. These authentic Trump quotes delivered to millions just reinforce his loyal fans’ admiration of him because he “tells it like it is.”
“[Trump] is way better at the internet than anyone else in the GOP which is partly why he is winning.” — Dan Pfeiffer
President Obama’s former digital and social media specialist, Dan Pfeiffer, stated that Trump is “way better at the internet than anyone else in the GOP which is partly why he is winning,” according to the Guardian. Trump agreed with Pfeiffer, and even referred to himself as “the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters.”
His social media presence doesn’t stop at Twitter, although that is his most followed front. He stays up to date on YouTube and Vine as well, spurting short clips of him — in different red ties — making brief statements on his platform. Trump’s videos also appear on his Instagram; the quality poor but the reach incredible. The account has 1 million followers, and each post reaches about 20–40 thousand likes, generally. One of his most infamous videos, featuring Hillary Clinton laughing over video footage of wreckage in Benghazi, currently has 29.4K likes and over 23,700 comments.
Trump’s Facebook page features carbon copies of his most popular tweets alongside shared links from reputable news sources about his successes and tactics along the campaign trail. He throws in #MakeAmericaGreatAgain in almost every post, thanking endorsements and encouraging followers to respond. Facebook allows users to quickly read not only what a candidate is thinking, but also what their followers agree on. On each of Trump’s posts, you can also view the top two agreeable follower comments, each with hundreds — or even thousands — of likes and replies.
The #TrumpTrain remains strong on social media, but the real estate mogul and reality television star already had millions of followers before he announced his candidacy. Not every politician can garner that kind of following organically.
Ted Cruz on Twitter mentions and online beefs
After watching Obama sweep two elections on the online front, it seemed Republicans — who weren’t already reality television and billionaire celebrities — wouldn’t be able to catch up. Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) has been determined to break that mold with the help of his social media guru, Josh Perry.
With a modest 837K Twitter followers, Cruz does not hold the numbers in online fans compared to fellow republicans Trump and Ben Carson, but he remains consistent and popular among online interactions. Cruz won the Twitter debates back in October and November, having the most retweeted quotes and mentions, according to Newsweek.
Josh Perry, Cruz’s 26-year-old voice on the Internet, has credited the Texas Senator’s online success to Cruz’s willingness to speak up on the most pressing issues. “Half the time you try to force issues and force messaging that’s not what your activists want to talk about, you’re doing damage to yourself,” Perry said, according to CNN. “But you’ve also got to know who your audience is and speak to them.”
Social media have also been platforms for candidates to attack the competition directly and instantaneously on current topics instead of editing together an attack television ad about past issues. Cruz is not an exception. When Donald Trump announced he would not attend January’s GOP debate leading up to the Iowa caucus, Cruz took to Twitter to call out Trump’s bold decision, coining the hashtag, #DuckingDonald, and promoting a new merchandise item.
Cruz also tweeted a poll to his followers to gauge the response of a potential, exclusive, Trump versus Cruz debate. Trump was not going to let this reaction go unanswered and took to Twitter immediately.
The Twitter feud did not lead to a change of heart in Trump or a one-on-one debate. Checking the time stamps on those tweets proves how quickly two — if not more — candidates can start an online battle on their way to the top.
Hillary Clinton’s approach to millennials online
On the other side, Hillary Clinton’s (D) campaign has attempted a different social media strategy targeting millennials. In August, the Clinton campaign broke into the Snapchat game with its debut post of a black-and-white photo of young Hillary with big, white, block lettering crying out, “Yaaas, Hillary!”
“Yaaas” is one of the Internet’s favorite exclamations used to express extreme excitement. While its origin is credited to gay men, the word is now used online and in real life dominantly by young women and men.
Hillary’s target demographics either love or hate her social media posts. Some fans have Tweeted back at her saying “squad goals” and “SLAY,” but many take another approach.
When Hillary’s Twitter dropped this question, the replies consisted of fewer emojis and more jabs at the candidate. They criticized her social media tactics, her campaign funding, and her grammar. Twitter user @z0u1s replied: “she’s trying to #relate to us #youngpeople and our mysterious #technology #hashtag #emoji.” @neophiyte said “How does it feel that your Donors are responsible for the crippling student debt? Tell us in 3 emojis or less.” And @dahanese stated “fewer, not less. :( :( :( ← these emoticons brought to you by the tears of good grammar.”
Hillary’s campaign attempts at appealing to millennials have been described as awkward and pandering. Some critics accuse her of trying to be the “cool mom” of the 2016 election.
Even through her social media faux pas, the Clinton campaign has gained headway through Hillary’s Instagram account with help from celebrities like Lena Dunham. Dunham built her writing and acting career trying to encapsulate the life of privileged millennials in her HBO series, Girls. Even though critics don’t agree with Dunham’s views on the real lives of Generation Y on the show, she has gained plenty of support from young people — particularly young women — through her outspoken feminism. When she started advocating for the Clinton campaign, the #ImWithHer hashtag followed many of her posts, and it wasn’t long before she was on the campaign and running Hillary’s Instagram account while rallying in New Hampshire in January.
Celebrities and other public figures have always been able to publicly endorse presidential candidates, but now allowing them to utilize their social networks has made an even larger impact and — in the Clinton/Dunham case — has resulted in comments including, “This really sways me to vote Hillary.”
Social Media underdog, Bernie Sanders
The Cinderella story of the social media game is about Senator, Bernie Sanders (I-VT). In May of 2015, Sanders had 1.5 million Facebook likes across two pages and 327K followers on Twitter. As of February 2016, his Facebook pages have 5.9 million likes, and he has 1.48 million Twitter followers (source). His rise to popularity started with the hashtag: #FeeltheBern.
Sanders’ progressive ideas have been accepted online and have translated into large turnouts for rallies and private donations. In the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucus, Sanders owned the Google searches among Democratic candidates in the state with 50 percent of search volume.
Sanders’ campaign specializes in posting about the issues rather than attacking other candidates or negatively commenting on a group of people.
You won’t see modesty on the aging senator’s social media. The fact that he was an underdog at the beginning of this race has seemed to reinforce his confidence.
Although Clinton barely took the win in Iowa, Sanders was the social media star leading up to the caucus. Sanders received over 77,000 Twitter mentions when Clinton had 52,000, according to the analytics firm Brandwatch. Sanders also gained the most new Facebook followers than any candidate during the caucus; Trump came in second, and Clinton rolled up in third place. This wasn’t the first time Sanders presence was strong both online and at a physical election event. The first Democratic debate in October gave the Vermont senator a major push in social media. He and Clinton wrapped up the televised debate with 41% and 39% of debate mentions, respectively. During the debate, followers used Sanders’ name on Twitter 12,000 times per minute to Clinton’s 8,300 times per minute (source).
Reddit has also been a starter for Sanders’ grassroots campaign with more than 115K current subscribers. The subreddit community, /r/SandersForPresident, is not officially a part of the campaign but has harnessed a following of Sanders supporters and donators. When Sanders first mentioned that he would run for president if there was a demand for it, the founders formed the subreddit to help gain support for the candidate they believed in.
While Facebook likes and Twitter followers do not necessarily convert into actual votes, they are indicators of candidate hype. With the constant mentions, hashtags, online trends and slang, social media not only provide a platform through which candidates can reach their audience, but also reshape every candidate’s campaign strategy. It appears that the real winner of this election come November are social media.
