Trump’s Twitter Tirade

Donald Trump is now the 45th President of the USA, after gaining popularity as an entrepreneur. He became better known for his controversial opinions on Twitter, taking part in celebrity discussion, which could be seen as unprofessional — especially for someone running for president. These opinions however, no matter how disagreeable they were, gained him attention from the media. As people say “Any publicity is good publicity”, Trump definitely embodies this phrase. In a way, this shows he has used Twitter successfully. His frequent tweets shows how he can quickly become hot headed and express (perhaps regretful) statements so readily.

Since running for office, he has gained followers, however not as many as expected. Many people predicted that Twitter would have a “Trump Bump”; expecting the number of user accounts to increase due to his frequent use of the platform. However, this did not occur and account sign-ups have remained as usual or even slightly less. This shows that despite how much he is spoken about in current news, it appears as if people are actively trying not to show support towards him, many just check his Twitter when necessary, and, as a leader, all he wants is followers. Considering his role of POTUS, his follow count is surprisingly low, compared to Obama’s personal account. This may also show that the demographic of Trump supporters does not coincide with Twitter users.

His controversial statements were not just a scheme for getting into office, he has continued to post his personal opinions — including misspellings — perhaps showing he doesn’t value the presidential role. This NYT article shows:

It’s already clear that any hopes that Mr. Trump and those around him would be even slightly ennobled by the responsibilities of office were foolish.

Obama, didn’t use a personal account whilst he was president, showing he fully embodied the role of president, Trump however uses both accounts, showing that he has an unpresidented (pun intended) opinion and doesn’t show his recognition of his position in Office. Tweeting from his own account makes it more appealing to his followers since that’s what they are looking for, words straight from the president.

The language that he uses is very persuasive and inclusive, gaining more attention than similar statements from his opposition — Clinton. Note the variance in the likes.

One reason for his support may be due to the inclusive language he uses — “we” instead of “I”.

Not only has he used his own online presence to gain popularity, but he may have taken advantage of online accounts of the US population for example in the case with Cambridge Analytica, where he was shown to have targeted his campaign towards the correct demographic using personality profiles collected from social media accounts.

Sean Spicer — press secretary of the White House has started using Skype for press statements, allowing more reporters to create greater news coverage. By using Twitter for semi-official statements, they have established a method for everyone to be able to access their releases, making the population more involved than ever. I think this is a good way of publishing the interviews and increasing public interaction.

Trump is not using Twitter in the normal or expected way, however it can be considered that he is using it semi-successfully, if you consider attention & follower count the criteria.