3 Reasons why Social Media could NOT have the same power for OPRAH as it did for TRUMP.
After watching Oprah Winfrey’s acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the Golden Globes, my social feeds buzzed with high praise for the television personality to run for office in 2020. “YAAAS QUEEN!”, “Our next president!” and “OPRAH 2020!” were just a few of the many posts my feeds were filled with along with articles highlighting the most ‘presidential’ lines of her speech. Do I think Oprah will run for president in 2020? No way. This Instagram posts sums up my thoughts:
Oh and she’s not an egomaniac like the current commander in chief. She doesn’t need to prove anything…
However this flood of posts pushing Winfrey to run for office and speculation of how she’ll take down Trump in the next election has me wondering; Could social media have the same effectiveness for Oprah as it did for Donald Trump? No.
Here’s 3 reasons why.
1. Demagoguery
Donald Trump is a demagogue. Sounds like a powerful thing right? When I hear the term I immediately think of Stranger Things. In fact, yes. Donald Trump and the ‘Demogorgon’ from the popular Netflix series have quite a few things in common, the most similar being that they are powerful figures who use fear to gain power of the people.
According to Merriam Webster, a Demagogue, “is a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.”
It’s no surprise that Trump was adorned with cheers when he would blame Mexicans for the country’s most significant issues including crime, the economy, and unemployment. It’s easier for people to blame others than buy into a rational argument. So for so many frustrated Americans, Trump’s false claims and fear mongering helped motivate them to the polls.
2. Reconcilers
Donald Trump uses the technique of Post Truth, where objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. Failure to adapt to technological change, work with other nations and change viewpoints on social issues in the 21st century are not as attractive reasons for why America is struggling compared to let’s say, blaming Mexicans.
Outside of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago to name a few are frustrated Americans needing someone outside of the political establishment to fight for them in D.C. So you’d think ok Oprah fits that role? No. Oprah is not a demagogue. She is a reconciler, and reconcilers are not attractive. The reconciler cannot compete with the demagogue on social media. Why? Facts are not attractive to ‘share’. Facts are not attractive to ‘thumbs up’. Trump can tweet 140 characters on non-sense with no factual basis and the rural red state American can relate. They can find a reason to blame.
3. Filter Bubbles
When I saw the posts praising Oprah for her Golden Globes speech and encouraging her presidential run, I can guarantee you that Trump supporters did not see these posts. Why? Because of filter bubbles. Social media is a tool that is constantly learning. It’s learning what we like, what we dislike and shaping the content that it spews out to reflect this. Think of search engines more as social discovery engines now. When you search for something you’re going to receive results that reflect the social circle you’ve built online. The people you follow and engage with and the viewpoints of topics and categories that you fall into.
Personally my viewpoints are very liberal. I surround myself with friends and influencers who think and view like I do. So it’s no surprise that on Golden Globes night and they days proceeding, my feeds would be inundated with support for someone who is not Trump, someone who uses logic rather than lies like Oprah.
The problem here is that these filter bubbles are locking us into our established viewpoints. Trump supporters are not going to see Oprah’s speech or at least not the same support for her that I do.
This brings us back to the argument about blue states versus red states. These social filter bubbles are reflective of the election map and the electoral college system. If social media does not find a way to show all sides and all viewpoints the end result will always be the same. A leader who can gather the frustrated masses through distortion of facts and blame will beat the reconciler.
Trump may want to build a wall but so long as social media stays the way it is, Oprah will stay locked up in one.
#woke
