The Use of Social Media in Presidential Campaigns
Many politicians are slowly embracing technology by switching their campaigns to social media. The immediate former president of the United States had over twenty-million followers on Twitter during his intense campaign that led to the election of the first black president to head world’s biggest economy. His opponent, Mitt Romney, had over one-million followers on Twitter with over seven million friends on Facebook. In the recently concluded election leading to the Trump presidency, the two presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, relied heavily on social media platforms for their campaigns because of their effectiveness and efficiency in reaching out to the majority of voters. …show more content…
Statistics indicate that over 56% of Americans have profiles on social media sites. The number has been increasing because it was 48% in 2010. Notably, the ages of those with social media accounts are between 20 and 54 which implies that the candidates stand to benefit if they focus on sharing information with people on these social sites. The people between 45 and 54 is the fastest growing group in terms of social media usage. Fortunately, this is good news to campaign strategists because they can comfortably capitalize on social media to win elections. In addition, the number of those using social media platforms more than once a day is about 22% in the United States. The implication, therefore, is that a presidential candidate is assured of their audience each day if they aptly exploit the chance. Politicians have been closely following social media statistics; essentially, politics is about having the winning numbers, and nothing else. In some cases, analysts and opinion makers may claim that a certain candidate is the best qualified, but those using social media will give a different analysis based on the profile of the person on social media. In retrospect, this is exactly what Donald Trump did to win the presidential elections (Albrecht and …show more content…
When opinion polls are conducted, they might be shown to have a high probability of winning. However, such people need to turn their online supporters into voters. In some instances, a candidate would seem to be having a strong backing based on the crowds that attend their conferences and rallies. Unfortunately, those attending the rallies do not often turn out to vote in their large numbers. However, social media presents a perfect opportunity for candidates to convince their supporters on the importance of turning out to vote. If a political aspirant takes to social media to explain the reasons why supporters should turn out in large numbers to vote, then they would have accomplished an important civic duty. With social media, the population is able to track the engagements of a political leader. Through this, voters are able to know which candidate is best suited to
Many politicians are slowly embracing technology by switching their campaigns to social media. The immediate former president of the United States had over twenty-million followers on Twitter during his intense campaign that led to the election of the first black president to head world’s biggest economy. His opponent, Mitt Romney, had over one-million followers on Twitter with over seven million friends on Facebook. In the recently concluded election leading to the Trump presidency, the two presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, relied heavily on social media platforms for their campaigns because of their effectiveness and efficiency in reaching out to the majority of voters. …show more content…
Statistics indicate that over 56% of Americans have profiles on social media sites. The number has been increasing because it was 48% in 2010. Notably, the ages of those with social media accounts are between 20 and 54 which implies that the candidates stand to benefit if they focus on sharing information with people on these social sites. The people between 45 and 54 is the fastest growing group in terms of social media usage. Fortunately, this is good news to campaign strategists because they can comfortably capitalize on social media to win elections. In addition, the number of those using social media platforms more than once a day is about 22% in the United States. The implication, therefore, is that a presidential candidate is assured of their audience each day if they aptly exploit the chance. Politicians have been closely following social media statistics; essentially, politics is about having the winning numbers, and nothing else. In some cases, analysts and opinion makers may claim that a certain candidate is the best qualified, but those using social media will give a different analysis based on the profile of the person on social media. In retrospect, this is exactly what Donald Trump did to win the presidential elections (Albrecht and …show more content…
When opinion polls are conducted, they might be shown to have a high probability of winning. However, such people need to turn their online supporters into voters. In some instances, a candidate would seem to be having a strong backing based on the crowds that attend their conferences and rallies. Unfortunately, those attending the rallies do not often turn out to vote in their large numbers. However, social media presents a perfect opportunity for candidates to convince their supporters on the importance of turning out to vote. If a political aspirant takes to social media to explain the reasons why supporters should turn out in large numbers to vote, then they would have accomplished an important civic duty. With social media, the population is able to track the engagements of a political leader. Through this, voters are able to know which candidate is best suited to