Social Media Presence In Bernie Sanders's Campaign

The scene is idyllic -- a late May afternoon with a large crowd sprawled across a lawn, munching on Ben and Jerry’s ice cream treats. Bernie Sanders sure knows how to kick off a campaign. The picnic functioned as an invite to his followers to support him. And many accepted, as Sanders raised a stunning 1.5 million dollars in the first twenty-four hours of his campaign1. Sanders’ fundraising is not the only impressive part of his campaign. With 614,000 Twitter followers, 1,629,700 Facebook likers, and an extremely popular Tumblr blog, Sanders has also made his mark in the World Wide Web2, 3. But a strong social media following does not necessarily mean Sanders can sweep the election. Sanders’ notable social media presence may be impressive, but when other perspectives from other types of media are considered, such as the Huffington Post, Politico or the Des Moines Register, especially from September 10th to September 16th, Sanders may not be as strong of a contender as he may appear. …show more content…
He may not have as many followers directly interacting with him, but he has the most talking about him compared to other platforms. While most of Sanders’ tweets serve to further his stance on certain issues, for example, “It's time to break up the banks. Their casino-style gambling has helped divert 99 percent of all new income to the top one percent.”, Tumblr posts paint the picture of a fun, underappreciated candidate who America needs4. The website hosts pictures of Sanders sitting in the middle seat on an airplane or his face pasted over popular memes5,