America Just Got Trumped

The 2016 Present elect is Donald Trump, and social media can not believe it.

With 74% of American citizens engaging on social media through platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, it's not unusual that candidates utilize these mediums in numerous ways to aid their campaign such as:

•         Creating the ideal public persona 
•         Targeting opponents
•         Attracting potential supporters in ways that are comfortable with them
•         Aligning voters with candidate’s goals

A main contribution to Trumps success is because he engaged with supporters through digital platforms. Not only is social media a good way to engage with supporters, but it also greatly aided Trump by reaching out to people willing to become involved with the campaign. By urging supporters to act on behalf of a specific candidate, this provides campaigns with free labour and most importantly enthusiastic people who faithfully encourage other audiences such as friends, family, and community members to either vote on election day, or also partake in the campaign. Social media facilitated the word-of-mouth campaign and this proved it to be beneficial and more expensive than previous methods like TV ads or radio commercials. The entire election was just choosing the lesser of two evils and given the fact that mainstream media was primarily anti-trump, voters turned to alternative media sources in hopes of seeking out the truths behind each candidate’s claims. 

Facebook and Twitter have been receiving shockwaves from the recent 2016 Presidential election because of unexpected victory from the Republican candidate, Trump. It’s been said that social media needed Trumps bigot remarks, like an addict needs a hit… and Americans bought into the notion of Trump and his approach towards the election. Social media users fuelled the success of Trump by retweeting, reposting, or sharing news/videos regarding him on networking sites. 

As we try to pick ourselves up from this result, we must consider the reasoning behind it.

Trump had success on social media in a number of ways:

Trump dominated the Twitter game by having four million more followers on Twitter than Clinton and The Hill states the overall online interest for Trump was three times greater than Clinton, while also being the most mentioned on Twitter and Facebook. 

The claims of 'media making the man' relate to Trump and his usage of social media, like TV did with John Kennedy’s election. Trump in a sense, earned free media due to the controversial remarks he would make, thus publicizing his name and providing an opportunity to explain himself. Social media won the election for Trump. As I say, good or bad, at least people are talking about you… and I assume that's the mentality trump had.

Arguments concerning the low voter count is said to have had impact on the results due to the substantially lower turnout in the 2016 election than in prior years. Clintons campaign can be said to have failed because of Slacktivism; supporters displaying their commitment via Facebook, however not actually submitting votes. Clinton based her campaign around old media and conventional strategies, and in the end this hurt her chance of becoming the first female President of the US. Clinton unlike Trump, never actually tweeted herself, she used social media in a conventional way whereas Trump used it to drive news cycles and create a form of authenticity by speaking directly to voters outside the mainstream filters. 

Trump targeted the working-class and in America they are categorized as being mostly without college degrees and he spoke about things they cared about such as: sexuality, marriage, liberty, religion, abortion and gun rights. He addressed the public on elementary level vocabulary and as a Canadian watching the broadcasts, I never assumed he would win because of the lack of knowledge he has and how unfortunate it is when he presents himself and speaks publicly. Also, I did not think America would make transition from Obama to Trump because of how politically incorrect he is regarding oppression of race, gender and class etc. 

 friends…… he has the best words… didn’t you know?

Trump along with Clinton had pre-existing social establishment prior to the 2016 election. With Hilary being married to Bill and her presence within the Government since the 80s and Trump being a celebrity on The Apprentice, Americans had already established opinions regarding the two. 

 Does this even need a caption...?

There is a distrust that lies within American citizens and mainstream media and this suggests that it’s the most influential factor regarding Trumps win. Many voters will change the channel upon encountering a political TV ad because they are often demeaning and infused with bias. Instead, when candidates engage in social media it receives a positive response because ‘mainstream’ news channels do not portray stories fully, accurately or fairly therefore preventing the truth from prevailing. A lot of people supported Trump because he shut down mainstream media and fought back against them; this caused citizens to support his campaign by showing leadership. This proves that Americans were impressed with Trumps unruly perspective and considered him a better candidate than Hilary.

The list goes on and on regarding the things Trump did wrong for his campaign and vise-versa for Clinton however, what do you think is the main reason Trump won? Do you feel Trump will alter his controversial statements regarding “building walls to keep others out” among many more now that he has actually assumed the Presidency role, or will it all go downhill? (aka do you think he will mature and deviate from his bigot remarks?)