Abstract
Social media radically upended the traditional campaign norms and practices in the 2016 presidential campaign. Its use was unprecedented in volume, scope, and tactics. The Trump campaign was transformative in relying on social media as the primary communication channel. This chapter reviews how the both campaigns utilized social media to include Quora, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vox, Buzzfeed, Upworthy, Facebook, Instagram, Longform, Twitter, Reddit, Snapchat, YouTube, and LinkedIn. The authors caution that although social media and digital communication were critical in the 2016 contest, it would be an overstatement to claim that social media elected Donald Trump. However, the campaign changed the way social media will be used in the future.
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Notes
- 1.
Shannon Greenwood, Andrew Perrin and Maeve Duggan. “Social Media Update 2016: Facebook Usage and Engagement is on the Rise, While Adoption of Other Platforms Holds Steady,” Pew Research Center, November 11, 2016, http://pewrsr.ch/2fiOTBE.
- 2.
Keely Lockhart, “Watch: Why Social Media is Donald Trump’s Most Powerful Weapon,” The [London] Telegraph, September 22, 2016, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/22/watch-why-social-media-is-donald-trumps-most-powerful-weapon/.
- 3.
David McCabe, “Welcome to the Social Media Election,” The Hill, August 17, 2015, http://thehill.com/policy/technology/251185-welcome-to-the-social-media-election.
- 4.
Michael Slaby, “The New Normal: Digital Defines Presidential Campaigns,” The Hill, http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/300535-the-new-normal-digital-defines-and-revolutionizes.
- 5.
Jim Ruttenberg, “In This Snapchat Campaign, Election News Is Big and Then It’s Gone,” New York Times, April 24, 2016, http://nyti.ms/1qKDtsi.
- 6.
Michael X. Delli Carpini, “The New Normal? Campaigns and Elections in the Contemporary Media Environment,” U.S. Election Analysis 2016, http://www.electionanalysis2016.us/us-election-analysis-2016/section-1-media/the-new-normal-campaigns-elections-in-the-contemporary-media-environment/.
- 7.
Nicholas Cass, “How Social Media Is Ruining Politics,” Politico Magazine, September 2, 2015, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/2016-election-social-media-ruining-politics-213104.
- 8.
Marc Fisher, “How Donald Trump Broke the Old Rules of Politics—and Won the White House,” Washington Post, November 9, 2015, http://wpo.st/eN1P2.
- 9.
Cass, “How Social Media.”
- 10.
Ross Douthat, “Confessions of a Columnist,” New York Times, December 31, 2016, http://nyti.ms/2iQmvWb.
- 11.
Seth C. Lewis and Matt Carlson, “The dissolution of News: Selective Exposure, Filter Bubbles, and the Boundaries of Journalism,” U.S. Election Analysis 2016, http://www.electionanalysis2016.us/us-election-analysis-2016/section-6-internet/the-dissolution-of-news-selective-exposure-filter-bubbles-and-the-boundaries-of-journalism/.
- 12.
Laeeq Khan, “Trump Won Thanks to Social Media,” The Hill, November 15, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/306175-trump-won-thanks-to-social-media.
- 13.
quoted in Ruttenberg, “In This Snapchat Campaign.”
- 14.
Ruttenberg, “In This Snapchat Campaign.”
- 15.
Jim Hoft, “Social Media Patterns Show Trump Is Looking at a Landslide Victory,” The Gateway Pundit, August 7, 2016, http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/08/evidence-trump-landslide/.
- 16.
A. J. Katz, “2016 Ratings: Fox News Channel is Cable TV’s Most-Watched Network,” Adweek, December 28, 2016, http://adweek.it/2hOrw15.
- 17.
A. J. Katz, “2016 Ratings: CNN Has Most-Watched Year Ever,” Adweek, December 28, 2016, http://adweek.it/2hHVVB8.
- 18.
A. J. Katz, “2016 Ratings: MSNBC Weekday Shows Deliver Record Ratings,” Adweek, December 28, 2016, http://adweek.it/2hx9ODc.
- 19.
Nicholas Mirzoeff, “How Donald Trump Broke the Media,” The Conversation, March 4, 2016, http://theconversation.com/how-donald-trump-broke-the-media-55693.
- 20.
Issie Lapowsky, “Here’s How Facebook Actually Won Trump the Presidency,” Wired, November 15, 2016, https://www.wired.com/2016/11/facebook-won-trump-election-not-just-fake-news/.
- 21.
Jacob Pramuk, “Trump Spent about Half of what Clinton did on his way to the Presidency,” CNBC, November 9, 2016, http://cnb.cx/2fCzwT9.
- 22.
Lapowsky, “Here’s How Facebook.”
- 23.
Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Martin, “Donald Trump Scraps the Usual Campaign Playbook, Including TV Ads,” New York Times, December 24, 2015, http://nyti.ms/1TjtmU3.
- 24.
Darren Samuelsohn, “Hillary’s Nerd Squad,” Politico, March 25, 2015, http://politi.co/1NhnFSl.
- 25.
Ashley Codianni, “Inside Hillary Clinton’s Digital Operation,” CNN.com, August 25, 2015, http://cnn.it/1IbSmVJ.
- 26.
Ibid.
- 27.
Sara Ashley O’Brien, “Can Hillary Clinton Emojis Win Over the Snapchat Generation?”, CNNMoney, June 30, 2016, http://cnnmon.ie/298rTTo.
- 28.
Clare Foran, “Clinton’s End-Run Around the Press,” The Atlantic, August 17, 2016, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/hillary-clinton-media-press-conferences/495965/.
- 29.
Heidi M. Przybyla, “Clinton Media Campaign Follows Buzzfeed Model,” USA Today, January 18, 2016, http://usat.ly/1RwwqyT.
- 30.
Natalie Andrews, “On Social Media, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Have Different Styles,” Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2016, http://on.wsj.com/2ajE0tL.
- 31.
Rebecca Ruiz, “How the Clinton Campaign Is Slaying Social Media,” Mashable, July 25, 2016, http://mashable.com/2016/07/25/inside-social-media-hillary-clinton/.
- 32.
Yuyu Chen, “#ImWithHer: Inside the Clinton Campaign’s Social Strategy, Digiday, September 26, 2016, http://digiday.com/brands/imwithher-look-inside-clinton-campaigns-social-strategy/.
- 33.
Ken Cosgrove, “The Emotional Brand Wins,” U. S. Election Analysis 2016, http://www.electionanalysis2016.us/us-election-analysis-2016/section-2-campaign/the-emotional-brand-wins/.
- 34.
Andrews, “On Social Media.”
- 35.
Jennifer Stromer-Galley, “In The Age of Social Media, Voters Still Need Journalists,” U. S. Election Analysis 2016, http://www.electionanalysis2016.us/us-election-analysis-2016/section-6-internet/in-the-age-of-social-media-voters-still-need-journalists/.
- 36.
Issie Lapowsky, “Clinton Has a Team of Silicon Valley Stars. Trump Has Twitter,” Wired, July 14, 2016, https://www.wired.com/2016/07/clinton-team-silicon-valley-stars-trump-twitter/.
- 37.
Steven Bertoni, “Exclusive Interview: How Jared Kushner Won Trump The White House,” Forbes, November 22, 2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2016/11/22/exclusive-interview-how-jared-kushner-won-trump-the-white-house/.
- 38.
Ibid.
- 39.
Ibid.
- 40.
Ibid.
- 41.
Joe Keohane, “The Cry-Bully: The Sad Mind and Evil Media Genius Behind @realDonaldTrump,” Politico Magazine, May/June, 2016, http://politi.co/1Wsnhbs.
- 42.
David Sherfinski, “Donald Trump: ‘Somebody said I’m the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters’” Washington Times, November 20, 2015, http://go.shr.lc/2hMKaFJ.
- 43.
Hannah Jane Parkinson, “Can Donald Trump’s Social Media Genius Take Him all the Way to the White House?” The Guardian, December 23, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/23/donald-trump-social-media-strategy-internet-republican-nomination-president.
- 44.
Lapowsky, “Here’s How Facebook.”
- 45.
Matt Kapko, “How Social Media Is Shaping the 2016 Presidential Election,” CIO, September 29, 2016, http://www.cio.com/article/3125120/social-networking/how-social-media-is-shaping-the-2016-presidential-election.html.
- 46.
Phil Howard, “Is Social Media Killing Democracy,” Culture Digitally, November 14, 2016, http://culturedigitally.org/2016/11/is-social-media-killing-democracy/.
- 47.
Lapowsky, “Here’s How Facebook.”
- 48.
Track Analytics, “Total People that Followed Donald J. Trump on Twitter,” http://www.trackalytics.com/twitter/followers/widget/realdonaldtrump/.
- 49.
Oren Tsur, Katherine Ognyanova and David Lazer, “The Data Behind Trump’s Twitter Takeover: Want to Know How @realDonaldTrump became the force it is? We Crunched the Numbers,” Politico Magazine, April 29, 2016, http://politi.co/21pADWb.
- 50.
@realDonaldTrump, “Donald J. Trump Twitter Account,” https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump.
- 51.
Rebecca Morin, “Trump Says Social Media was Key to Victory,” Politico, November 11, 2016, http://politi.co/2fmXgMi.
- 52.
Amanda Hess, “How Trump Wins Twitter: Everyone Knows He’s the Best on Social Media. Here’s Why,” Slate, February 18, 2016, http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/02/donald_trump_is_the_best_at_twitter_here_s_why.html.
- 53.
Cosgrove, “The Emotional Brand.”
- 54.
Hess, “How Trump Wins.”
- 55.
Darren Samuelsohn, “Trump’s Twitter Army: New Data Show the GOP Nominee’s Followers are Exactly What the Dems Hoped they Weren’t—Reliable Voters,” Politico, June 15, 2016, http://politi.co/24QmtOC.
- 56.
Ibid.
- 57.
Jasmine C. Lee and Kevin Quealy, “Introducing the Upshot’s Encyclopedia of Donald Trump’s Twitter Insults,” New York Times, January 28, 2016, http://nyti.ms/1OSZpJw.
- 58.
Ibid.
- 59.
Samuelsohn, “Trump’s Twitter Army.”
- 60.
Nolan D. McCaskill, “Donald Trump’s Year of Tweeting Dangerously: We Read Every Tweet of his 2015 Campaign. And what we Learned Might Surprise You,” Politico, January 1, 2016, http://politi.co/1mnXVxB.
- 61.
Erik Sherman, “Two Trump Insiders Behind the Campaign’s Social Network Explosion,” Fortune, March 25, 2016, http://fortune.com/2016/03/25/trump-scavino-mcconney-social-media.
- 62.
Matthew Boyle, “Exclusive—Under the Hood: How Donald Trump Has Cut Around Corporate Media to Reach Millions Directly Online,” Breitbart, November 29, 2016, http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/11/29/exclusive-how-trump-bypasses-corporate-media-reach-millions/.
- 63.
Ben Schreckinger, “Meet the Man Who Makes Donald Trump Go Viral: Justin McConney Spearheaded This Cycle’s Biggest Innovation: The 15-second Instagram Attack Ad,” Politico, October 1, 2015, http://politi.co/1JFqk5C.
- 64.
Boyle, “Exclusive—Under the Hood.”
- 65.
McCaskill, “Donald Trump’s Year.”
- 66.
Joe Keohane, “The Cry-Bully.”
- 67.
Ibid.
- 68.
John Herrman, “Donald Trump Finds Support in Reddit’s Unruly Corners,” New York Times, April 8, 2016, http://nyti.ms/25PvHhe.
- 69.
Michael Bathel, “How the 2016 Presidential Campaign Is Being Discussed on Reddit,” Pew Research Center, May 26, 2016, http://pewrsr.ch/1Z2JCf3.
- 70.
Nicole Piper, “Snapchat Lures More Campaign Spending as Candidates Court Young Voters,” Bloomberg Technology, August 25, 2016, http://bloom.bg/2bIMcqn.
- 71.
Jim Ruttenberg, “In This Snapchat Campaign, Election News Is Big and Then It’s Gone,” New York Times, April 24, 2016, http://nyti.ms/1qKDtsi.
- 72.
Philip Rucker, “Snapchat Steps into 2016 Campaign with Iowa ‘Live Story’ and Kasich, Walker Ads,” Washington Post, July 16, 2015, http://wpo.st/Er_P2.
- 73.
Drew Harwell, “How YouTube is Shaping the 2016 Presidential Election,” Washington Post, March 25, 2016, http://wpo.st/gwUP2.
- 74.
Todd Longwell, “Which Candidate is Winning the Race on YouTube in the Home Stretch?”, ZEFR Insights, November 4, 2016, http://blog.zefr.com/which-candidate-is-winning-the-race-on-youtube-in-the-home-stretch/.
- 75.
Ibid.
- 76.
Hillary Clinton Instagram Account, @HillaryClinton, https://www.instagram.com/hillaryclinton/; Donald Trump Instagram Account, @RealDonaldTrump, https://www.instagram.com/realdonaldtrump/.
- 77.
Sam Sanders, “Instagram: The New Political War Room?” NPR Morning Edition, September 3, 2015, https://n.pr/1O997G8.
- 78.
Sherman, “Two Trump Insiders.”
- 79.
Parkinson, “Can Donald Trump’s Social.”
- 80.
Marvin Heiferman, “On the Instagram Presidential Campaign Trail,” New York Times, September 15, 2015, http://nyti.ms/1idSfn7.
- 81.
Shane Goldmacher, “Facebook the Vote,” National Journal, June 12, 2015, https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/25829/is-facebook-holy-grail-political-advertising.
- 82.
Statista, “Percentage of U.S. population with a social media profile from 2008 to 2016,” https://www.statista.com/statistics/273476/percentage-of-us-population-with-a-social-network-profile/.
- 83.
Statista, “Most popular mobile social networking apps in the United States as of November 2016, by monthly users (in millions),” https://www.statista.com/statistics/248074/most-popular-us-social-networking-apps-ranked-by-audience/.
- 84.
Ashley Parker, “Facebook Expands in Politics, and Campaigns Find Much to Like,” New York Times, July 29, 2015, http://nyti.ms/1IJnpyK.
- 85.
Ibid.
- 86.
Lapowsky, “Here’s How Facebook.”
- 87.
Goldmacher, “Facebook the Vote.”
- 88.
Ibid.
- 89.
Steve El-Sharawy, “Donald Trump as President? Thank Facebook,” EZY Insights, November 1, 2016, https://ezyinsights.com/blog/2016/11/01/donald-trump-as-president-thank-facebook/.
- 90.
Lapowsky, “Here’s How Facebook.”
- 91.
Alan Rosenblatt, “What Did Hillary Clinton Leave on The Social Media Table?”, Huffington Post, December 12, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-did-hillary-clinton-leave-on-the-social-media_us_58419d99e4b04587de5de94d.
- 92.
El-Sharawy, “Donald Trump as President.”
- 93.
Ibid.
- 94.
Eliza Collins, “LinkedIn: The Saddest Social Network of the 2016 Campaign,” Politico, July 17, 2015, http://politi.co/1MfQWAM.
- 95.
Daniel Kriess, “Social Media Did Not Give Us Donald Trump and It Is Not Weakening Democracy,” U. S. Election Analysis 2016, http://www.electionanalysis2016.us/us-election-analysis-2016/section-6-internet/social-media-did-not-give-us-donald-trump-and-it-is-not-weakening-democracy/.
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Hendricks, J.A., Schill, D. (2017). The Social Media Election of 2016. In: Denton Jr, R. (eds) The 2016 US Presidential Campaign. Political Campaigning and Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52599-0_5
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