Trump…Trump… and more Trump.
That is all that we see throughout the day while scrolling on our Twitter, Facebook and even Instagram feeds. Whether you like him or hate him, follow him or do not follow him, Donald Trump, the Republican candidate in the 2016 election, is always there. The good, the bad and the ugly. But how is he getting so much publicity and influencing so many people with his negative, racist, and sexist comments?
Since 2010, the use of social media to stay updated on the elections has been on the rise. According to the Pew Research Center, 28 percent of registered voters used their cell phones to track political news and campaigns in 2014, up from 13 percent in 2010.
In the 2016 elections, 35 percent of adults ages 18 to 29, in a survey conducted by Pew Research Center in February, said that social media is their most helpful source for gathering information about the elections.
I chose not to follow Trump on any social media platform because my morals do not align with his. Though I did not click the “follow” button, he still appears on my news feeds through the news outlets I follow, others retweeting his posts, and his paid advertising.
Between Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Trump has over 25 million followers but he is the most popular and active on Twitter. These followers are giving him easy earned media because both his supporters and non-supporters are doing most of the work for him by retweeting, sharing and liking his posts to spread his message.
In December, when Trump threatened to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, he became the most
mentioned topic on Twitter. “tweets mentioning Trump were retweeted more then 646,000 times on Dec. 7, compared with an average of a little under 100,000 the week prior,” according to USA Today.
It seems that he dominates the political conversation by how frequently he posts. Scrolling through his Twitter, within a 12-hour period he Tweeted 14 times. However, of those 14 tweets, seven of them were attacking others such as Hillary Clinton and John McCain. After scrolling back 31 tweets, including his retweets, (two days worth of posts) I finally found one that talked about one of his policies. It appears that his main focus is putting others down instead of informing the public how he plans to help our country.
Trump’s messages on social media are fueled by anger and emotion. He is trying to tap into the fears of his audience by bringing up topics of terrorism, the economy and immigration. Although I do not agree with his tactics, his supporters seem to be feeding into it. He is dominating the news cycle and whether they are saying positive or negative comments about him, he is still taking up airtime and receiving attention.
