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Donald Trump's use of social media has attracted attention worldwide since Trump joined Twitter in March 2009. He has frequently use Twitter to comment on politicians and celebrities, and he relied on Twitter significantly to communicate during the 2016 United States presidential election. The attention on Trump's Twitter activity has significantly increased since he was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States and continued to post controversial opinions and statements.
In May 2017, Newsweek reported that nearly half of Trump's 31 million followers on Twitter appear to be fake accounts or bots.
History
Before his election Donald Trump was projected to become the first "social media president" by CNN. In comparison, Franklin D. Roosevelt can be described as the first "radio president", John F. Kennedy as the first "television president", and Barack Obama as the first "internet president". These presidents had a tremendous impact by spreading their message through new media channels.
Social media also was an important part of Trump's presidential election campaign in 2016, and was one of the reasons he was ultimately elected.
Donald Trump and media
See also: Barack Obama on social mediaDonald Trump has used social media to sideline mainstream media. This has dramatically shifted the way the president communicates with the public. Donald Trump has addressed people as individuals through social media, when compared to Barack Obama who mobilized his supporters en masse. Trump's tweets are spontaneous, unfiltered and reveal his emotions.
Internet phenomena associated with Donald Trump
Donald Trump's use of Twitter has created memes such as covfefe.
Nasty woman is a phrase that originates from Donald Trump. It evolved into a feminist "battle cry".
Social media accounts
Donald Trump has a social media audience of over 45 million people in the United States. He has 31 million followers in Twitter, 20.4 million followers in Facebook and 5.6 million followers in Instagram.
Twitter and Twitter followers
Prior to his election campaign, Donald Trump's Twitter account (@realDonaldTrump) had 7.58 million followers. He used the account heavily during his election campaign. It is still used, in addition to his use of the U.S. Presidential account (@POTUS) for his presidential activities (18.1 million followers), which is run the White House to send official messages.
In the spring of 2017, here was a spike of new followers on Trump's Twitter account. An audit done reported that 51 percent of Trump's Twitter followers, were likely fake accounts known as bots. Prior to the election, 8 percent of his 7.58 million followers were suspected bots. Bots are set up to automatically like and retweet messages in order to create the appearance of significant support or popularity. Prior to the 2016 election in November, supposedly pro-Hillary Clinton Tweets were sent out falsely telling people they could "vote from home" by via text message.
In January 2017, Trump had 20 million followers, and an audit by a journalist showed that 32 percent were fake. In May 2017, his followers had jumped to 30 million followers, but only 51 percent are legitimate accounts. An audit shows that 8.3 million of the 10 million new followers Trump gained from January to May were fake. (By comparison, an analysis shows that 21 percent of Barack Obama's 89 million Twitter followers were bots.) However, a Twitter spokesman denied the claim that there are that many fake accounts on the service.
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| This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (May 2017) |
Trump Tower wiretapping allegations
Main article: Trump Tower wiretapping allegationsPresident Donald Trump (in the first of four tweets that claimed that former President Barack Obama tapped the phones in Trump Tower), TwitterTerrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
In a succession of tweets on March 4, President Donald Trump stated he had "just found out" that former president Barack Obama had wiretapped the phones in his offices at Trump Tower during the last months of the 2016 election. The tweets resulted into a weeks long media attention given to the allegations, despite scarce evidence. Fake news websites did also take up the allegations, and one even claimed that a warrant for Barack Obama's arrest had been given. He did not say where he had obtained the information and offered no evidence to support it. Trump compared the alleged intrusion to McCarthyism and Watergate. Anonymous White House officials told The Washington Post that Trump did not appear to coordinate his comments with other White House officials.
Into April and May there was no further evidence forthcoming on the claims. When questioned about the issue in an interview on April 30, Trump was evasive when asked about his relationship with former president Obama. He said 'I don't stand by anything' and he thought 'our side has been proven very strongly, and everybody’s talking about it'.
See also
- Donald Trump bibliography
- Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
- Filmography of Donald Trump
- Political positions of Donald Trump
- Presidency of Donald Trump
- Rogue Twitter accounts
- Trump Tower wiretapping allegations
- List of Internet phenomena
- List of most followed users on Twitter
- Fake news
- Nevertheless, she persisted
- Trump orb
- Use of Twitter by public figures
- Trump–Tsai call
References
- "Almost half of Trump's Twitter followers appear to be fake". Newsweek. May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- Jones, Van. "Trump: The social media president?". CNN. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ "How Donald Trump Used SOCIAL MEDIA to Become the 45th President of the U.S. - SerpLogic.com - #RealTalk Marketing". February 24, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ Media (January 23, 2017). "Donald Trump's Social Media Use Is Key To Sidelining The Press". The Federalist. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- "What Trump Understands About Using Social Media to Drive Attention". Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- Hunt, Elle (May 31, 2017). "What is covfefe? Donald Trump baffles with late night Twitter post". Retrieved May 31, 2017 – via The Guardian.
- Gray, Emma (October 20, 2016). "How 'Nasty Woman' Became A Viral Call For Solidarity". Retrieved May 31, 2017 – via Huff Post.
- https://twitter.com/POTUS
- https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
botwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Johnson, Tim; Gordon, Greg (May 31, 2017). "Trump suddenly gets millions of new Twitter followers – or does he?". McClatchy DC. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- Johnson, Tim (November 4, 2016). "That pro-Trump tweet that made your blood boil? It probably came from a bot". McClatchy DC. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/mar/21/timeline-donald-trumps-false-wiretapping-charge/
- ^ Philip Rucker; Ellen Nakashima; Robert Costa (March 4, 2017). "Trump, citing no evidence, accuses Obama of 'Nixon/Watergate' plot to wiretap Trump Tower". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
- Allison Graves (March 5, 2017). "Why the White House defense of Trump wiretap accusation is misleading". Politifact.
- Graham, Renee (May 1, 2017). "OK, then, Mr. President, I'll just see myself out". Boston Globe.
Note list
- ^ The original tweets, in chronological order, are:
- @realdonaldtrump (March 4, 2017). "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!" (Tweet). Retrieved March 21, 2017 – via Twitter.
- @realdonaldtrump (March 4, 2017). "Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!" (Tweet). Retrieved March 21, 2017 – via Twitter.
- @realdonaldtrump (March 4, 2017). "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!" (Tweet). Retrieved March 21, 2017 – via Twitter.
- @realdonaldtrump (March 4, 2017). "How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"" (Tweet). Retrieved March 21, 2017 – via Twitter.
Further reading
- Oborne, Peter (2017). How Trump Thinks: His Tweets and the Birth of a New Political Language. Head of Zeus. ISBN 978-1-78669-664-9.
- Tabone, S. R. (2017). Trump the Twitter President: The Trump Machine: How Their Use of Twitter Got Trump Elected. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1-5424-0911-7.
- Robson, Tony (2016). Trump Tweets: A Collection of Donald Trump's Most Outrageous, Offensive, and Deleted Tweets from Trump's Twitter Page. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1-5411-5955-6.
