How are the campaigns using websites and social media to target voters and how does it differ from previous campaigns? Do you think their messaging strategies have been effective thus far and what, if any, changes would you recommend? Finally, how important is online campaign communication in the 2022 campaign? Along with referring to the class readings, use examples from your candidate’s website and one social media account (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, etc.) to support your response. Each Election Eve team member should analyze a different platform, so be sure to coordinate with each other for this particular assignment.
In campaigns, advertising is key to winning an election. In In chapter four of Campaigns on The Cutting-Edge 4th Edition which was written by Michael Turk titled "Social And New Media Campaigns: Advantage Or Source Of Disinformation," has stated that this past election and in the four years, advertising has been bigger than any other campaigning during an election year. Back in pervious election cycles, it would just be through the online websites of the specific candidates and that is really much it. This year though, according to Turk, “the growth of online advertising has continued unabated over the past four years." (Turk 2020). This can be in partial thanks to some of the strategies that each campaign has had when it comes to advertising like through “the growth of online advertising has continued unabated over the past four years." (Turk 2020). Through the previous quote, there has been a new, unknown market of advertising that has been tapped into when it comes to advertising. Another new market that hadn’t been used in past elections were the use of “streaming media platforms like Spotify and Pandora” (Turk 2020) which would allow the users to listen to the ad in order to get multiple hours of listening for free, just for listening to one add which proved to “be an effective model for delivering ads without a negative impression of the advertiser “interrupting” their consumption" (Turk 2020).
ReplyDeleteI think when it comes to candidates messaging so far and how they are using their messaging, I think it has been very effective so far. Candidate’s websites and Facebook pages have number in the millions when it comes to views, likes, etc. In the 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, edited by Robert E. Denton, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021 in chapter five titled “The Social Media Campaign of 2020” Allen & Schill, they stated that “Trump’s official Facebook page received 354.4 million interactions (290.5 million reactions, 38.6 million comments, and 25.4 million shares), compared with 52.2 million for Biden’s page (39.95 million reactions, 7.5 million comments, and 4.8 million shares), according to data from CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned data platform” (Allen & Schill). I know I’m not a data expert, but all those numbers seem extremely high in terms of total users… I know my own mother makes up a tiny, tiny, tiny portion of that. In raw numbers alone, this follower base alone, one can look at the examples and see that these candidates and their messaging strategies have been effective thus far because they have gained a lot of traffic on their pages. To put some of the numbers mentioned above to scale in terms of how much money and importance is spent on advertising, Marty Swant of forbes.com in an article titled “What Joe Biden’s And Donald Trump’s Facebook Ads Reveal About Their Campaign Strategies,” said that each candidate spent an absurd amount of money on Facebook. Swant stated that “Biden’s page spent $6.1 million on 19,336 different ads between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31 while Trump’s page spent $2.9 million on 53,817 different ads” (Swant 2020). Both campaigns have spent nine million dollars on ads and let alone ads on Facebook… it’s just an insane amount of money.
It’s no secret that campaign websites and social media accounts have arguably become the most important parts of a political campaign. They are integral to getting the candidate’s message out, getting the campaign to interact with their supporters, but most importantly they help establish the campaign’s primary brand. However, a passage from Political Branding in a Digital Age highlights an important detail, "Once a campaign develops a brand identity, those visual elements need to be integrated across platforms and used to support the candidate’s messaging strategy. In today’s digital age, candidates need to have a consistent, memorable brand to connect with voters online” (Burns and Marchase, page 121). Essentially consistency is very important, and John Fetterman’s online presence is a good example of a consistent brand.
ReplyDeleteWhen going on his website it primarily uses the colors black, white, and yellow. The first thing you see on the website is his campaign slogan “every county, every vote” a direct link to his campaign video, and the area to sign up for the campaign. So, even if you didn’t bother looking at any of the other tabs you immediately know what John Fetterman is about and you can immediately sign up to his campaign messages if he appeals to you. Messaging supports can be the edge a candidate needs to push them over the edge. The book Campaigns on the Cutting Edge highlights this by saying "Sending supporters timely messages with relevant content continues to be the top priority of the campaign … "Keeping your activists connected to the campaign and energized to take action is the primary focus of the online operation" (Nelson, page 51). Fetterman furthers this communication with his base by maintaining a strong social media presence.
Fetterman has been consistently praised for his use of social media because of him constantly sniping at his opponent Dr. Oz and his knowledge of internet meme culture. Some even argue he is setting the standard for future candidates. A quote from social media expert Maggie McDonald explains Fetterman’s online appeal. She says” In addition to making people laugh, she said she thinks Fetterman’s stunts could motivate appreciative viewers to contribute money to his campaign and push apathetic Democrats to get off the sidelines to vote for him” (Associated Press, paragraph 25). He is very active on Tik Tok and Twitter and maintains many elements of his website, like his slogan, color scheme, and even uses a similar font to his website. However, not all of Fetterman’s social media accounts have been given the same attention. His YouTube channel is incredibly bare bones. Most of the videos on it are shorts, so I’m assuming they’re reuploaded from his Tik Tok account. The videos that aren’t shorts average between 1-7 minutes long. It’s pretty clear that this YouTube channel is more of an afterthought in the Fetterman Campaign. This is shown with the channel's view and subscriber count. Despite being around since 2015, it only has about 8,000 subscribers and over 800,000 views. Both counts are probably a fraction of the traffic his Tik Tok and Twitter get. I think he should seriously revamp this channel because it would allow him to upload longer videos and YouTube has a wide age range of users, as opposed to Tik Tok which has a primarily younger user base.
Overall, John Fetterman’s campaign has a very consistent brand image and a social media presence unlike any campaign before it.
Works Cited:
ReplyDeleteBurns, Lisa M. “The Role of Design- and Image-Based Messaging Strategies in the 2020 Presidential Campaign.” Political Branding in a Digital Age, edited by Courtney Marchese, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, New York City, NY, 2021, pp. 115–134.
Fetterman, John. “Official Campaign Website.” John Fetterman, 1 Apr. 2021, https://johnfetterman.com/.
Nelson, Candice. “Chapter 4 Social and New Media Campaigns: Advantage or Source of Disinformation?” Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, 2021, pp. 46–64.
Press, Associated. “Fetterman Harnesses Power of Social Media in Senate Campaign.” New York Post, New York Post, 30 July 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/07/30/fetterman-harnesses-power-of-social-media-in-senate-campaign-against-dr-oz/.
Blog 4
ReplyDeleteCampaigns in the modern age are very different from the way they were twenty years ago. The explosion of the use of social media and the internet is primarily the reason behind this drastic change.
Previous to the widespread use of the internet, politicians primarily relied on traditional media such as TV appearances and maybe radio to connect with their supporters. Now there are so many different websites and apps where a politician can spread their messages and beliefs to their supporters. The “offline” and “online” media difference is almost non-existent at this point. As a digital campaign consultant, Michael Turk, puts it “there is only media” (). Politicians no longer have to stick to rallies and debates to gain supporters. Instead, they can use sites like Instagram to make jokes about their opposition. Another thing social media has allowed campaigns to do is to have influencers support them and push their messages. Kanye is a perfect example of this, as he was extremely popular and a vocal Trump supporter (58).
As for the potency of these new communication strategies, I think they are extremely effective. In 2020, when everyone was in lockdown social media became the only safe and viable way to reach supporters. According to the Pew Research Center, one in four of adults in the United States got their political news from social media (Hendricks et. al 79). While it can be argued that this is not necessarily a good thing, it is important to be aware of it. During the 2016 and 2020 campaigns, fake news and misinformation have been huge talking points. A politician in this day and age must take social media seriously because of these threats.
In the 2022 midterms, I believe online communications for campaigns are required to even have a semblance of success. Democratic candidate John Fetterman has put a good amount of effort into targeting younger voters using his social media accounts. His Instagram features lots of videos of him getting involved with the public, posting memes, and calling out his opponent, Mehmet Oz. While I think he is doing good, it seems like he is primarily targeting younger voters. I say this due to the abundance of memes he posts “trolling” Oz. I think it is safe to say he has the youngest voters in his pocket and if anything, he should focus on targeting older voters (voters who would most likely vote for Oz). While Instagram probably is not the best place to do that as older people tend to congregate on websites like Facebook, he could try to focus on issues concerning that demographic on Instagram and his official website. Right now, his Instagram and websites have allusions to fixing the economy. But if he were to put more videos on his Instagram of him talking about the economic crisis, I think he would get a lot more people invested in his campaign. For example, he has a video of a steelworker in which the worker talks about what Fetterman has done for the working people in his community. If I was on hid digital campaign team, I would try to make more videos like these.
Works Cited
Turk. M. “Social & New Media Campaigns” in Campaigns on The Cutting-Edge 4th Edition edited by Semiatin in 2020
The 2020 Presidential Campaign : A Communications Perspective, edited by Robert E., Jr. Denton, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/quinnipiac/detail.action?docID=6639656. Created from quinnipiac on 2022-07-22 01:07:13
“John Fetterman (@Johnfetterman) • Instagram Photos and Videos.” Login • Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/johnfetterman/.
“Official Campaign Website.” John Fetterman, 1 Apr. 2021, https://johnfetterman.com/.
ReplyDeletePolitical campaigns use social media for many different things, from mobilizing their base, to reaching out to potential voters, to fundraising and gaining volunteers. Michael Turk (2021) writes, “sending supporters timely messages with relevant content continues to be the top priority of the campaign. This is nowhere more relevant than in the digital campaign” (pp.50.) Campaigns increasingly take place on multiple planes and playing fields. Due to social media, candidates can no longer easily quell rumors or control their image and messaging as much as they might like (Turk, 2021, pp. 53.) Since social media and the internet has the potential to catch politicians in their worst light, campaigns and social media managers have to try and present their candidate in the best way possible.
Val Deming’s election campaign utilizes twitter to share her thoughts on issues like abortion and gun control, to gain support, volunteers and donations, and to attack her opponet, Marco Rubio. Her Twitter header says, “Join our people-powered campaign. Text TEAM to 77076” (Demings, 2022.) This is an attempt to bring in fundraising by getting people to sign up for a text line which will make it accessible for anyone to donate small sums of money. This strategy may have contributed to democratic senate campaigns, including Demings, reporting their best online fundraising numbers in August. In fact, according to Politico, the Demings campaign, “brought in more than $7.8 million, the most of any single candidate in August on ActBlue” (Piper, 2022, para. 1-7.) In this way, the Demings campaign has definitely been utilizing social and online media to fundraise effectively.
Another way that the campaign uses Twitter is to attack her opponent, Marco Rubio. According to the Pew Research Center, “political tweets from Republicans and Democrats alike are more likely to mention the opposite party than their own” (Bestvater and Shah, 2022, para. 9.) Demings uses the hashtag #WhereIsMarco on Twitter to call Rubio out for his poor attendance in congress, attacks Rubio’s stance on abortion and gun control and writes that it is time to “send (Rubio) into retirement” (Demings, 2022.) This type of posting is meant to energize her base and inspire voters who may be fed up at Rubio’s leadership and stance on the issues.
On Twitter, the Demings campaign uses what Hendricks and Schill (2021) call “negative online energy” (pp. 85.) This strategy was used by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election to appear as a down-to-earth centrist candidate as opposed to Donald Trump. Like Biden, Demings is a centrist candidate who is attempting to silence the label of “radical liberal” while appearing practical and making the other side appear impractical. For example, in one September Tweet, the Demings campaign writes, Let me be clear: America’s women and girls will NOT go back to being treated like second-class citizens. We have to vote out every extreme politician that cosponsored the national abortion ban, starting with Marco Rubio. #RetireRubio” (Demings, 2022.) In the narrative that the Demings team uses on Twitter, Rubio is a radical conservative who cannot be trusted to protect peoples’ basic rights. So, voters should go with a centrist candidate who will not ban abortion.
References
DeleteBestvater, S., & Shah, S. (2022, June 30). 5 facts about political tweets shared by U.S. adults.
Pew Research Center. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/30/5-facts-about-political-tweets-shared-by-u-s-adults/
Demings, V. (2022). Val Demings Twitter Feed. Twitter. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from
https://twitter.com/valdemings/with_replies
Denton, R. E., Hendricks, J.A. & Schill, D. (2021). The Social Media Campaign of 2020. In
Campaigning in the aftermath of the 2020 elections: A communications perspective.(pp. 77-92.) essay, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Piper, J. (2022, September 22). Dem Senate candidates posted best online fundraising month in
August. POLITICO. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/22/democratic-senate-candidates-fundraising-august-00058266
Semiatin, R., & Turk, M. . (2021). Chapter 4 Social and New Media Campaigns In Campaigns
on the cutting edge (pp. 46-64). essay, CQ Press, an imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc.
Herschel Walker is using his website and social media to attract the vote of the family oriented people of Georgia. There is a picture on his website of him taking a picture with a white Georgia family consisting of a husband and wife with their newborn child. Also on the home page of his website it says “stand for conservative family values” with a description stating he is a Christian father and husband. Clearly all of this on his website is meant to attract the conservative families of Georgia. His Twitter account also focuses on this idea, but also has many posts slandering his opponent, Raphael Warnock. Most of his media (pictures and videos) on Twitter contain him taking pictures with his supporters, including small children. However, a lot of his Twitter is him and his campaign taking shots at Warnock. Many of his post attacking Warnock are centered around Warnock supposedly ‘dividing’ the American people, once again zeroing in on Walker being the prime candidate for conservative families. While his Warnock posts are definitely weird and many of them invalid, the content differs from how former president Donald Trump used his Twitter account. According to Chapter 5 of “The Social Media Campaign of 2020” by John Allen and Dan Schill, Trump has sent more than 32,000 tweets since he entered political life, using his Twitter to attack opponents amongst other shenanigans. Twitter flagged many of his tweets for “violating policies against the glorification of violence and misinformation about the civic process,” due to his constant extremist tweets. These tweets from Trump were very unprofessional, especially after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Although being backed by Trump, Walker and his campaign have taken a different approach to social media, especially in attack ads. Walker does have many of them, but they are well-made videos slandering Warnock. Although there are similarities between the two, definitely in the amount of attack ads posted on Twitter, Walker’s are much more professional and never just word blobs about the other candidate.
ReplyDeleteI do not think Walker’s messaging strategies have been affected at all, but I also don’t think they need to be. While doing research on his social media, I realized that Walker does not really talk about what he stands for, or what changes he wants to make. Most, if not all, of his posts are pictures with him at rallies and attack ads slandering Warnock. While yes, it is helping his conservative American family man persona, I don’t actually know much about his political views outside of inferences and assumptions. The attack ads are also not an effective strategy at all. Many of the Warnock attack ads are not very valid in content, meaning there isn’t a whole lot Warnock has done that’s super shady that is enough to get voters on Walker’s side. I bring this up every class, but Walker attacking Warnock for using a beagle in his last campaign and claiming he’s a liar, when Warnock never even said it was his dog, remains very comical to me. I would recommend less Warnock attack ads and more tweets that actually state why he is running and what he supports. Also he has to change his profile picture. It is currently a picture of him boxing, which makes quite literally no sense. People don’t know you as a boxer, Herschel. A professional photograph makes much more sense, and honestly, even a picture of him playing for the Georgia Bulldogs would be a better option than what he currently has.
Online communication is extremely important in 2022. We live in an era where any and everything can become a meme. Even the 2022 midterms have already had their fair share of memes. According to the CNBC article written by Brian Schwartz, “The account, created earlier this month, mocks an April campaign video of the veteran TV host botching the name of a Redner’s grocery store as it casts the candidate as out of touch with the Pennsylvania voters he’s hoping to represent.” As people my age, who grew up with memes as a major source of entertainment, become politically active, it is important for politicians to avoid looking foolish, especially Walker, as he is already susceptible to looking goofy.
DeleteWorks Cited:
Hendricks, John Allen and Dan Schill, “The Social Media Campaign of 2020.” In The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, edited by Robert E. Denton, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
Schwartz, Brian. “A Parody Twitter Account Created by a Paralegal Mocking Dr. Oz's 'Crudites' Campaign Video Goes Viral.” CNBC, CNBC, 19 Aug. 2022, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/19/a-parody-twitter-account-mocking-the-dr-ozs-crudites-video-goes-viral.html.
Walker, Herschel. “Herschel Walker for U.S. Senate.” Herschel Walker, 25 May 2022, https://www.teamherschel.com/.
Walker, Herschel. @HerschelWalker. Twitter. https://twitter.com/HerschelWalker. Accessed September 25, 2022.
Herschel Walker’s campaign for senate in Georgia is doing a great job with its website and Instagram account on the surface. First, the website has cohesive branding. The red and white color scheme with hints of blue communicates a patriotic message, while the slogans of “Run Herschel Run” and “Run Fight Win For Georgia” typed in all capital letters bring enthusiasm and reminders of Walker’s career as a football player. Photos of him speaking to families and elderly people are on full display, but the first one that you see is one of him smiling out at what seems to be a crowd. The logo strategically places stars and a curved line around the candidate’s name to look like a football. The campaign merchandise is generally well designed and matches the color scheme and messaging of the rest of the website. Walker targets football fans, supporters of former president Donald Trump, voters born and raised in Georgia, and white voters with all of these elements of his website. This is similar to how Trump targeted specific groups of people with his advertising during his 2020 presidential campaign, but President Joe Biden did not. (Hendricks and Schill)
ReplyDeleteThe most glaring issue with this website is that Walker’s views on current issues are not prominent enough. You see all of the things previously mentioned as well as a “donate” button/form and an email subscription form on the home page, but you have to click on a separate section to find his other pages. The “about” page makes no mention of his beliefs, just his personal life and football career. There is still a lot of fluff even on the “issues” page, with titles like “Keep the American Dream Alive,” “Putting Georgia and Georgians First,” and “Stand for Conservative Family Values.” The relevant issues on this page are supporting small businesses over big corporations, not defunding the police, securing the US borders, supporting the military, and protecting constitutional rights.
His Instagram could also use a bit of work. The posts are appealing through a graphic design lens and the branding aligns with his website, but there is too much focus on taking down his opponent Raphael Warnock. In his most recent row of three posts, two were criticizing Warnock for putting California before Georgia. I had to scroll down to two weeks ago (11 rows of three posts each = 33 posts) to find a row without a post about Warnock. The only change I would recommend is giving the attack ads a rest and pushing Walker’s own beliefs. Again, this is a similarity that Walker shares with Trump - in the final week of his campaign, 60% of Trump ads were pure attacks, and under 10% were purely positive. The same way Trump ads criticized Biden for being a part of the “radical left”, Walker’s Instagram is shaming Warnock for agreeing with Stacey Abrams’ “radical view on life.” (Hendricks and Schill) I definitely don’t think this will be effective for Walker - Biden ran a whole campaign on not being Trump, but that doesn’t mean that Walker has to base his around not being Warnock.
Charlie Windels Part 1
ReplyDeleteSocial media has become a critical aspect of campaigning over the past few years and for good reason. Over the past 10 years, we have seen social media take over and grow exponentially with a variety of different apps and websites. Social media’s easy accessibility has allowed people of all ages to interact daily and get news updates and more. As of the past few years and especially because of the pandemic we have seen many candidates voice themselves on social media and use it as a platform and way to promote their image/brand. After reading part of chapter 5 from the Denton text it became even more apparent to me how many people social media reaches. The reading quotes “In 2020, social media use was at an all-time high, with 72 percent of Ameri- cans of voting age using social media platforms and 69 percent of that demographic is on Facebook alone.9 Social and digital media are now the most common pathways through which Americans get their political news” (Hendricks & Schill). Overall I think social media is and will continue to have a huge effect on the election process. Candidates now and most likely years from now will have to think about what they should do or should change based on the issues arising on social media.
After looking at Marco Rubio’s Instagram account some of the strengths, as well as weaknesses, are very noticeable. In his more recent posts, he touches on many controversial social issues, but the one he seems to be focused on right now is immigration. In his posts, although he is extremely confident and to the point, I think there are still some things he can do differently. In one of his posts, he talks about Val Demmings and all the bad things that could happen if she were to get elected. Very rarely does he offer insight on what he is going to do to address certain issues. Right now he is playing the “I am not Val Demmings, so vote for me” game which can be extremely risky. Despite being a well-known and experienced senator that has a very loyal fanbase, I think he needs to do a better job at offering more messaging about himself and his campaign.
Charlie Windels Part 2
ReplyDeleteOne thing I chose to look at was how these candidates were using social media to reach people of all different backgrounds and cultures. After reading an article from CNN titled How political candidates are targeting you on social media based on your music tastes, shopping habits, and favorite TV shows by Casey Tolan I found that many candidates use symbols, celebrities, or organizations that are well known to expand their image and become more well known. It allows people to feel more connected to the candidate and feel that they have similar interests as well as opinions on issues. The article quotes “The data, which Facebook parent company Meta has started to make public in recent months, provides a snapshot into how political campaigns are slicing and dicing online groups of voters based on very specific interests. And it’s a sign that as America grows more politically polarized, the candidates are using cultural icons as proxies for politics” (Tolan). Overall I think Marco Rubio does a pretty good job at this. On his Instagram account, he uses references to sports as well as other ways of cultural interaction. In another post, he shares how he met up with some of Florida's ranchers and cattlemen. Ultimately I think social media is an effective way for candidates to present to the public what their values are as well as what they are like from a personal standpoint.
Works Cited
https://www.instagram.com/marcorubio/
Hendricks, John Allen and Dan Schill, “The Social Media Campaign of 2020.” In The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, edited by Robert E. Denton, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
Tolan, Casey. “How Political Candidates Are Targeting You on Social Media Based on Your Music Tastes, Shopping Habits and Favorite TV Shows | CNN Business.” CNN, Cable News Network, 23 Sept. 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/23/business/us-candidates-facebook-ads-targeting-invs.
Palek Singh
ReplyDeleteAccording to The Social Media Campaign of 2020, “social and digital media are now the most common pathways through which Americans get their political news. In a 2020 survey from the Pew Research Center, …about one-in-five (18%) reported that they follow politics mainly through social media”(Hendricks & Schill 79). I believe this fact has influenced campaigns to focus and heavily endorse themselves on social media platforms. The number of young voters has also grown in recent years, which is another reason why social media should be used to target voters, to get the votes of young people who have a great presence on social media. Social media’s existence has made a difference in regards to campaigning over the years. According to Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, “the growth of online advertising has continued unabated over the past four years”(Turk 47). I believe that Mehmet Oz’s engagement on the app “TikTok” could be effective in getting the votes of young people who lean right. He posted a couple of short clips of him talking about the rise of gas and grocery prices and what he plans on doing about it as a senator. Inflation due to Russia and Ukraine’s conflict has been a topic of concern for all individuals in the U.S regardless of party and/or political leaning since early this year, so bringing up the issue of increased prices can definitely earn him more support because people don’t want to be paying a lot of money for everyday essentials. Inflation is one of the main issues that Oz is focusing on for his campaign because he has listed “growing the economy” under issues on his website. The support for Oz is reflected in the comments of his TikTok, people have commented things such as “Trump/Oz 2024!” and “DR OZ FOR SENATE,” but there also have been many statements of opposition in these comments as well. It’s important to note that the majority of young people tend to lean left, which means that apps like TikTok that are dominated by Gen Z, will typically reflect liberal ideals. Well known celebrities like Snooki have also taken to social media to show their opposition for Oz. According to The Wrap, in a video posted on Cameo Snooki says, “I heard you moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to look for a new job…and don’t worry because you;ll be back home in Jersey soon, this is only temporary”(Seitz). This may put a damper on Oz’s campaign because now a celebrity that many know and love, has decided to go against Oz and shows support for his opponent, John Fetterman instead.
Online campaign communication is very important in 2022, as the number of people on social media grows year by year, it makes sense to advertise on those outlets as well. Many don’t realize it but the media significantly impacts how we think politically and even generally. Hence why online campaign communication should be implemented for all sides and candidates. When a single candidate is communicating on social media, they’re bound to get the most votes and support because there is no competition. However, when there is communication from both sides, people can actually think about, research, and decide on who aligns with their preferences the most.
Work Cited:
1. Hendricks, John Allen and Dan Schill, “The Social Media Campaign of 2020.” In The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, edited by Robert E. Denton, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
2. Turk. M. “Social & New Media Campaigns” in Campaigns on The Cutting-Edge 4th Edition edited by Semiatin in 2020
3. Seitz, Loree. “Snooki Trolls Mehmet Oz's PA Senate Run: 'You'll Be Back Home in Jersey Soon' (Video).” TheWrap, 14 July 2022, https://www.thewrap.com/snooki-trolls-dr-mehmet-oz-senate-run-video/.
4. “Grow Our Economy.” Dr. Oz for Senate, 1 Dec. 2021, https://doctoroz.com/issue/grow-our-economy/.
5. TikTok, https://www.tiktok.com/@dr_oz?lang=en.
Caitlyn Piascik
ReplyDeleteThe campaigns using websites and social media are primarily using advertisements to target voters and win an election. According to Michael Turk, "The boundary between what we used to call new media and traditional media has been blurring for years. A commercial filmed and produced for television is often revised and placed as a digital ad on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and countless websites… [And] Campaigns in particular presidential campaigns, rely heavily on online advertising to reach voters with messages for fundraising, mobilization, and increasingly even persuasion,” (Turk). These wide advertising strategies allow candidates to reach both active and inactive voters by allowing all individuals using particular social media websites or platforms to passively consume the ads or even interact with them. According to Turk, “President Obama’s campaign made effective use of video games to reach younger supporters by buying ads on NBA Live 08 and Burnout Paradise in 2008 and used the tactic again in 2012. In the 2020 cycle, video game platform ads, as well as emerging advertising channels based on streaming game play, will likely increase the use of advertising to reach gamers” (Turk). These strategies differ from previous campaigns because they are thinking of new ways to reach new classes of voters and cross barriers that most candidates never thought to do – like Obama implementing gamers into his targeted advertising audience. I would also argue that these streaming groups are a particular group of voters who have not been accessed by candidates in the past.
Candidates are beginning to rely on social media to access these unreached voters and the 2020 election, which was purged by COVID and economic recession, further established the importance of the Internet and social media platforms amongst campaigns. According to The Social Media Campaign of 2020, “In 2020, social media use was at an all-time high, with 72 percent of Americans of voting age using social media platforms and 69 percent of that demographic is on Facebook alone. Social and digital media are not the most common pathways through which Americans get their political news” (Hendricks and Schill). Donald Trump was one of the most affluent political figures known for using Facebook and Twitter to directly interact with voters given his millions of followers. I do believe this strategy for interacting with voters has been extremely effective because most Americans get their political news from social and digital media. So, the idea of going right through that pathway seems like the most efficient option to access those individuals who don’t tune in to traditional news media.
Finally, I think online campaign communication is extremely important in the 2022 election if not required to get the essential awareness for your campaign to all voters – given the vast majority of the population participates in social media and uses it for their political news. Rapheal Warnock utilizes his campaign website along with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok to reach a widespan of voters. His Facebook includes various photos of the candidate interacting with his and various other communities, along with his different campaign stances. He posts frequently, sharing his views on issues and firing back at his opponents or ‘nay-sayers’. He has even recently started on TikTok to reach one of the newest social media platforms that consists of an extremely wide range of demographics. He uses TikTok to display his personality in a funny way and advertise for “Team Warnock” - which is a common slogan used throughout his campaign website.
In the digital age, modern political campaigns must use online media to strategically advertise their candidate, mobilize voters, and persuade the public (Turk 48) President Barack Obama formally establishes the use of the internet for campaigning in 2008, and since then, digital media has become central to elections (Hendricks & Schill 78). The pandemic only heightened this reality as our world moved to a virtual landscape and traditional campaign tactics like door knocking and rallies became impossible. In the year 2022, we are what many consider “past” the pandemic. We’re settling into our new normal and are yet to experience the way our politics will be influenced by the past three years of social injustice and public health controversy long-term. The 2020 presidential election set social media records “with 72 percent of Americans of voting age using social media platforms and 69 percent of that demographic is on Facebook alone” (Hendricks & Schill 79). The 2022 midterms will be our first major election following those record numbers; thus, it’ll be critically important that candidates make proper use of social media. Facebook is an extremely important social platform for politicians, as nearly 40% of Americans source their news from it (Hendricks & Schill 78). A close look at Dr. Oz’s Facebook reveals classic (and occasionally) lazy techniques. He frequently reposts negative media coverage of Fetterman, rather than generating his own content (Dr. Mehmet Oz). His bio is short, sweet, and to the point stating “Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania” (Dr. Mehmet Oz) Like most campaigns, he posts very general photos out in the community interacting with constituents and aiming to appear humble- eating burgers or posing at community fairs. Although, Oz still maintains his ‘doctorly image”, always appearing in an ironed suit, hair done and adorned with a plastered smile (Dr. Mehmet Oz). He appears to be struggling with the image balance that many candidates do, trying to appear a politician for the people, while also fit for the job. Oz’s website approach differs form that on Facebook. His top images are posed for the camera, and users must scroll for a while to see Oz out on the streets or speaking at events. His boring and predictable campaigns colors are used prominently throughout the page (Dr. Oz for Senate). He continues the tactic of leaning into his medicinal background, leading his “Why I’m Running” statement with “Today, America’s heartbeat is in a code red in need of a defibrillator to shock it back to life” (Dr. Oz for Senate). It’s tacky and redundant. While his Facebook appears simplistic, his website is overloaded with irrelevant subtabs, including two separate tabs for “media” and “in the news”, as well as one for “endorsements” and another for “videos”. These methods have not been successful thus far, as his messaging is inconsistent across platforms and could confuse voters. The recent mockery of Fetterman’s health condition really damaged Oz’s public perception as it directly contradicted the only differentiating aspect of his campaign. Oz’s communications team does not appear to have kept up to date on trends or pop culture references, lacking any intention microtargeting of younger voters. Overall, it appears Oz made need a rebrand if he loses and plans to run again.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteVal Demings is using her website and social media platforms to tell her story and her beliefs to the public to turn Florida blue. She uses the color blue consistently throughout her Instagram posts and the thing that she does the most is describe herself as a hardworking candidate who is never tired compared to Marco Rubio who she calls a “no-show senator”. She targets voters by making visually appealing posts and telling her public that she is accepting of all people such as POC, women, and the LGBTQ+ community, which can attract a younger voter audience as in 1 in 5 Gen Z adults identify with the LGBTQ+ community and how there were many young adults advocating over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill this past March. An example of a post from Demings that targets that young viewer is a post from three days ago about Bisexual Visibility Day. She wrote, “We wish all of our bisexual friends and family a happy #BisexualityPrideDay! Today we celebrate the bisexual community, the freedom to be yourself and the right to love who you choose,” (Demings Instagram) while wearing a shirt that says, “We say gay here”. Her Instagram account compared to Joe Biden’s in the 2020 presidential election does not differ all that much because of “the younger and more progressive demographics of its users,” (Allen and Schill, 86) however, Demings does not have the backed up support from A-List celebrities like Biden did. He had “Ariana Grande instructing her followers to “vote for Biden” that received 7.36 million likes and over 55 thousand comments.” (Allen and Schill, 86). I have not seen anything like that on Demings’ Instagram account.
I believe Demings' messaging strategies on Instagram have been effective so far for her democratic audience. She advocates a lot about gun violence and abortion rights and how she will make a historical change for Florida. Although there are nasty hate comments, they are outnumbered by supportive messages and blue hearts. She compares herself a lot to Marco Rubio online and about how he has not done anything for the people of Florida. She pokes fun at him, which supporters in her comment section find hilarious, however, if she was hoping to get the majority vote, I feel as if she should cool it on the jokes and talk more about what she is going to do to better Florida and really emphasize more on that. Her website does a great job talking about the issues she believes in and how she is going to change Florida, however, you are bombarded by pop-ups asking for money before you can even find the tab that tells you about her issues. Overall, there needs to be fewer comparisons and begging and more getting straight to the point while still making a positive and influential impact online.
Online campaign communication in the 2022 midterm election is so important because that is where people hold their attention nowadays. According to Pew Research Center from a 2020 study, “18% of U.S. adults who say social media is their most common way to get political and election news,” (Mitchell et al., Pew Research Center), and 48% of that 18% are aged 18-29. This 18% of people who are strictly getting their research on politics from social media depend on the candidates' social media in order to cast their votes. It is also super important for these candidates to have consistent branding online and to cast their issues clearly because of the number of shares their posts get online. According to another study done by Pew Research Center, “The daily volume of political tweeting from U.S. adults fluctuates much more than the daily volume of nonpolitical tweeting.” (Bestvater and Shah, Pew Research Center). Having a feed filled with political content can really sway some peoples’ votes so, in order to gain more voters, these candidates have to take their social media presence seriously.
References:
Delete"Val Demings On Instagram: "We Wish All Of Our Bisexual Friends And Family A Happy #Bisexualityprideday! Today We Celebrate The Bisexual Community, The Freedom To Be Yourself And The Right To Love Who You Choose."". Instagram, 2022, https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci2oIgcsP3I/.
Bestvater, Samuel, and Sono Shah. "5 Facts About Political Tweets Shared By U.S. Adults". Pew Research Center, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/30/5-facts-about-political-tweets-shared-by-u-s-adults/.
Hendricks, John Allen and Dan Schill, “The Social Media Campaign of 2020.” In The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, edited by Robert E. Denton, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021
Mitchell, Amy et al. "1. Demographics Of Americans Who Get Most Of Their Political News From Social Media". Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2020/07/30/demographics-of-americans-who-get-most-of-their-political-news-from-social-media/.
Bella Baird
ReplyDeleteThe campaigns this year differ from previous campaigns due to current issues and how social media has changed in the past few years. I think the messages on social media should be based solely on how candidates differ from their opponents and what they stand for. Social media should be used as a way to show the world how they are making a difference and what candidates are doing to improve their campaign. Ideally a good campaign would include, “creativity, a clear purpose, possessing emotional appeal, and the ability to target messaging to key demographics” (Burns, Marchese). Val Demings social media includes all of these aspects, but has many areas that could be improved. The online campaign is so important because of how this generation has grown up solely looking at social media and being glued to technology. Campaigning online has given candidates another angle to connect with the public that may not attend in person events.
Val Demings TikTok platform has about 86,000 followers and 1.4 million likes which is a decent standing for a politician. Her TikTok shows what schools and places in Florida that she has visited. Her most recent post is the students at Florida Atlantic University. Although her profile is very well run, I think that she might benefit from showing more of what she is doing to benefit the state than slandering Marco Rubio. More than half of her videos have to do with Rubio instead of focusing on her own campaign. Demings would generate more views if she were to show more of her history with law enforcement and videos of her showing how she would create a difference.
The Val Demings website immediately hits users with the please donate to flip Florida blue. I do like the wording she uses in statements, “I can’t keep up my momentum without your support, so I’m respectfully asking: Will you make a donation to join this people-powered campaign and flip Florida blue” (Demings). Even though she is immediately asking users to donate when they click on her site, she uses a respectful tone to encourage viewers to help her in the race. Her ‘About Me’ section leads me to find that she has had incredible experience with law enforcement and is a very respectful, family oriented, African American woman. Demings has an ability to use demographics such as, ”a centrist Black woman with a background in law enforcement—just the profile the party has placed its bets on in recent years” (Harris). She is capable of hitting many different demographics of Florida with these ties. Demings’s media platform is doing well through her well written messages and showing her personality through the media.
Demings, Val. “Donate Now to Elect Val Demings!” ActBlue, https://secure.actblue.com/donate/val-demings-ads?refcode=ads_search_acq_key_us_campaign-launch-d2d_0621&amount=25&amounts=25%2C35%2C50%2C100%2C250%2C500&gclid=CjwKCAjwm8WZBhBUEiwA178UnEKkWSBttmwVjFcW69xzTQOoteJaHfQUqNzvjPbXx6dhuIOIMNXulxoCidIQAvD_BwE.
Harris, Adam. “The Val Demings Gamble.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 12 Sept. 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/09/val-demings-midterms-2022-democratic-party/671327/.
Denton, Robert E., et al. “Political Branding in a Digital Age.” The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communications Perspective, Rowman Et Littlefield, Lanham, USA, 2021.
Social media and campaign websites are one of the best ways for campaigns to send messages directly to their supporters. For a campaign, “maximizing the effectiveness in online messaging can mean the difference in election outcomes,” (Turk, 49). For this blog, I will be focusing on John Fetterman’s Twitter account. Fetterman’s use of Twitter to troll his opponent, Dr. Oz, is incredibly different from other campaigns. While President Trump would take to roasting his opponents on his Twitter account, the use of internet jokes and online humor is something no politician besides Fetterman’s has done before. A recent example is his use of the Adam Levine DMs. The DMs, the subject of much conversation online have become a popular meme. Fetterman used multiple screenshots to troll Oz, painting him as power hungry and extreme on abortion.
ReplyDeleteFetterman’s overall messaging on Twitter has to do with focusing on the issues of the economy and abortion. Most of his tweets over the last 24 hours have featured those two issues. Based on an Emerson poll I mentioned in an earlier blog, those are the two most important issues to Pennsylvanians in this cycle. To make them the focus of his social media strategy is smart: people want their concerns addressed. Fetterman’s stances on the minimum wage and abortion are also quite popular, making those subjects often referenced in his tweets. This makes his Twitter presence enormously effective. Fetterman also has a nice blend of memes, video, and professional photographs to give his account variety. If I had to critique him at all, it would be to tone down the negativity on Oz slightly. However, since it is done with humor, I think he can get away with more than normal.
More people are online than ever, and many of them are voters. This makes the online campaign more important than ever. On the heels of a Presidency where major policy was announced on Twitter, that website remains a vital piece of online campaigns. When contrasting Fetterman’s account with Oz’s there is much more variety, engaging content, and popular issue positions on Fetterman’s. Fetterman’s Twitter presence, therefore, puts him in a great position versus Oz when looked at from that lens.
Pennsylvania 2022: Fetterman Holds Four-Point Lead over Oz for US Senate; Shapiro Leads Mastriano by Three.” Emerson Polling, 25 Aug. 2022, https://emersoncollegepolling.com/pennsylvania-2022-fetterman-holds-four-point-lead-over-oz-for-us-senate-shapiro-leads-mastriano-by-three/.
DeleteTurk, Michael. "Survey Research and Campaigns: Challenges and Opportunities." Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, 4th ed., edited by Richard J. Semiatin, CQ Press, 2020.
Twitter, Twitter, https://twitter.com/DrOz
Twitter, Twitter, https://twitter.com/JohnFetterman.
ReplyDeleteThe Dr. Mehmet Oz for Senate campaign is very much an example of a traditional campaign operation attempting to comprehend and play around with new mediums, especially in the landmine known as Twitter. As Michael Turk wrote, “The boundary between what we used to call new media and traditional media has been blurring for years. A commercial filmed and produced for television is often revised and placed as a digital ad on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and countless websites,”(47). Social media and modernized campaign websites serve as a launching pad for political platforms, allowing potential voters to get a closer look at a candidate, usually in 280 characters or less. Twitter in particular is a fantastic way to share videos of your candidate, whether they be totally “impromptu” video or a campaign advertisement or attack ad. People are attracted to video content and love the opportunity to engage, both negatively and positively, with campaign-created content or user-generated content (Turk 53). Additionally, Twitter is an excellent platform for politicians; according to the Pew Research Center, politics are generally among the largest share of posts on the platform. Furthermore, the smallest share of politics tweets during the period surveyed by the center was at just around 25% for all users, and about 18% for Republicans and about 24% for Democrats in particular (Bestvater and Shah).
Oz is old school, and clearly his campaign is too. A quick scroll of his Twitter account, which has 3.8 million followers, shows the “social media game” of an older generation. The majority is made up of news articles, some from reputable mainstream outlets like CNBC and Axios alongside more biased sources like the Free Beacon and the New York Post, media appearances, a handful of statements or attacks, and a metric boatload of retweets of right-wing personalities. Oz essentially uses his Twitter as an extension of his website, simply using it to broadcast his appearances and push his advertisements to a broader audience; when he doesn’t push those “local-man” ideas, Oz tweets attacks on his opponent, Lt. Governor John Fetterman. Whether he’s calling Fetterman “pathetic and desperate” (Oz) or retweeting partisan attacks on his opponent, Oz is entirely running a campaign based around Fetterman’s flaws.
Will Dean
ReplyDeleteThough social media is undoubtably a major factor in modern political campaigns. Ever since Barack Obama’s foray into the online universe and Donald Trump’s weaponization of Twitter, political candidates have had no choice but to embrace it social media. Our country is clinically online, with one estimate saying that “American adults spend over 11 hours per day listening to, watching, reading or generally interacting with media” (Nielsen). Though these estimates are more than four years old, common sense suggests that these numbers have only gone up since FaceTime replaced face time during the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, “86 percent of U.S. adults were familiar with Internet streaming services…[and] 72 percent with streaming devices” (Hendricks and Schill). In short, social media is the new town square, making it the best place for a candidate to make his voice heard.
However, Americans tend to self-segregate their preferred platform by ages. Gen Z opts for the TikTok and Instagram doom scroll while Millennials prefer Twitter. Perhaps unable to grasp the zeitgeist of these platforms, Gen X and Boomers are mainly active on Facebook, the oldest popular social media platform. Marco Rubio’s campaign team adapted by crafting his Facebook content for this audience. His page banner features Rubio shaking hands with a man in military uniform with another servicewoman smiling and standing nearby (Rubio). Rubio’s profile photo is him with a WWII veteran (ibid.).
Rubio’s posts also appeal to this audience, opting for long-form videos over short video content seen on younger platforms. Though Rubio’s campaign does not release this data for obvious reasons, I would be interested to see the level of engagement in the Facebook video posts compared to Demings. As Turk explains, these metrics can “be tested to determine when a viewer stops watching and may be edited to make messages more compelling” (51). Links to articles are also quite common on Rubio’s posts, something not often seen on TikTok and a feature unavailable on Instagram. Most original posts relating to the military or traditional American values, such as a “happy 75th birthday” to the Air Force or “happy Constitution Day” (ibid.).
Running an online campaign depends highly on high-profile events. Pew data suggests that “in the wake of major events, politics makes up a larger share of what U.S. adults tweet about than normal” (Bestvater and Shah). Given that Rubio’s image is a very low-profile one, increasing his online profile would be quite a risky gamble. An alternative is recruiting influencers, who hold a “significant ability to shape the perceptions of others around them and to serve as clearinghouses of news and information through the social sharing” (Semiatin and Turk). This would give Rubio all the benefits of running a bombastic campaign without having to put “I’m Marco Rubio and I approve this message” as is traditional in television campaigns.
Bestvater, Samuel, and Sono Shah. “5 Facts about Political Tweets Shared by U.S. Adults.” Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/30/5-facts-about-political-tweets-shared-by-u-s-adults/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2022.
Hendricks, John Allen and Dan Schill, “The Social Media Campaign of 2020.” In The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, edited by Robert E. Denton, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
Nielsen. “Time Flies: U.S. Adults Now Spend Nearly Half a Day Interacting with Media.” Nielsen, July 2018, https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2018/time-flies-us-adults-now-spend-nearly-half-a-day-interacting-with-media/.
Rubio, Marco. “Senator Marco Rubio.” Facebook, 23 Sept. 2021, https://www.facebook.com/SenatorMarcoRubio/.
Semiatin, Richard J., and Michael Turk. “Chapter 4 Social and New Media Campaigns: Advantage or Source of Disinformation?” Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, 2021.
Cj Benedetti
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, this might be nit-picky (but as you have seen in class with my opinions on his new logo, I tend to nitpick), but Marco Rubios' campaign website is different than all of the other campaign social accounts. When looking at his campaign account and not his personal or senate account on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, his campaign handle is “@TeamMarco,” but there is no TeamMarco.com. So if you find one of those socials, all the others are findable. With his website, it is yet to be seen whether it is good or bad. If you only know his name and not his campaign, it will be easy to find and an excellent place to start, but if you know his campaign @ and look for the website “TeamMarco”, you will not find anything. The worst part, in my opinion, is that they haven't even bought the domain to redirect you. It redirects to a real estate agent on Marco Island in Florida.
Moving on to social media and its effects on campaigns now, since 2016, they have been super influential and honestly one of the easiest and quickest ways to interact with politicians and the fastest way for politicians to mobilize their supporters and display their messages, ideas, and promises. Twitter is a platform that has played a huge roll in the last few elections and has become a mainstay for political discussion. It is where most U.S Adults get their political news, and on top of that, “At certain times over the study period, political content made up a larger-than-usual share of the posts from the Center’s representative sample of Twitter users, and some of the most notable increases coincided with major political and social events” (Bestevar and Shah). So focusing on Twitter, we will look at Marco Rubio’s @TeamMarco account. His messaging here has honestly been more of an attack on Val Demings and the doings of the “radical left” then what he would do for Flordia. In fact, his pinned tweet for his campaign, uses the words “radical left” and says that its Val Demings fault. His Twitter is trying to reach the youth vote and the Hispanic vote. A lot of the pictures he is posing are of young activists wearing campaign merch, and the account tweets in Spanish periodically with important campaign notes or attacks on Joe Biden or Demings. Oddly enough, though, I feel like this campaign's Twitter doesn't match the low-profile candidate anymore. Whether this shift was intentional or not, he is becoming more and more aggressive. He compared Demings to Karl Marx, has said that terrorists are crossing our border, and said Val Demings “would be Florida’s most Liberal Senator” in their most recent tweet. Another thing of note is while scrolling on his Twitter, you could scroll for a good two minutes and find plenty of attacks on Demings, Biden, and Pelosi, but during that time, you'd find many only two or three posts about why Rubio is good for Florida and what he has done for Florida. This campaign feels very similar to a sentiment a lot of voters felt in 2020 “I'm not voting for Biden; I'm voting against Trump.” Rubio is pulling the old “Vote for me because you don't like the other option” card and not the “The other guy is bad, but also here is why I'm good.”
Moving on to his website Turk mentions that “everything from display ads to the campaign website can increase the amount of money raised or the number of activists willing to do something on behalf of the candidate” (Turk 50). Rubio’s website honestly does well in this aspect. The first thing you see is the sign-up for email updates about volunteer opportunities. Then the next swipe is to the donation page. Moving on from that is a bio about him, his wife, the news, and then the store.
Works Cited
DeleteBestvater, Samuel, and Sono Shah. “5 Facts about Political Tweets Shared by U.S. Adults.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 June 2022, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/30/5-facts-about-political-tweets-shared-by-u-s-adults/.
Turk, Michael. “Social and New Media Campaigns.” Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, by Richard J. Semiatin, CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., 2021, pp. 46–64.
Twitter, Twitter, twitter.com/TeamMarco.
“Marco Rubio for Senate.” Marco Rubio, 9 Sept. 2022, marcorubio.com/.
The use of social media and websites towards campaigns is a fairly new and extremely effective tactic that all campaigns must implement. We saw social media as well as the internet pick up lots of traction around the 2016 campaign between former President Trump and Hilary Clinton. We saw a struggle for the Clinton campaign with her email scandal and we also saw the Trump campaign struggle with the “Russia hack” allegation. Needless to say the internet was not quiet when these two candidates were running. Campaigns have used social media media to target voters directly. This is a fantastic tool used to fixate on key demographic groups at a time. For example, during the Trump campaign “ Allegations that some of the Trump campaign’s ads were racist led major television and social networks to reject some ad buys, but the Trump campaign continued to target older voters with the messages.” ( Turk, 48) Trump's media was mainly being targeted towards older voters. Then, as he entered the 2020 election with his tweeting at an all time high, his target audience to see these tweets were between the ages of 25-45. Trump is a fantastic example of how campaigns are able to target certain groups and listen to the messages being put out. The textbook refers to social media as a weapon saying “ Social media has, of course, been a fairly effective weapon used by campaigns against one another for some time.” (Turk, 47) The reason why social media is referred to as a weapon is because it can cause just as much harm as it can good. In previous campaigns there was alway a distinction between online and offline. A candidate could look exactly how he or she wanted and say exactly what they planned to say. Now, the textbook is telling us “ There is, increasingly, no longer a distinction between online and offline media; there is only media.”- (Turk, 47) This is an issue that certainly differs from past campaigns. The reason this is an issue is because this implies that someone is always watching, the internet never sleeps. It's so important now more than ever that candidates stay constantly aware. This is when my candidate Marco Rubio, benefits greatly from his low profile campaign.
ReplyDeleteAs the textbook mentions “Digital is the new normal,” (Turk, 48) it's important to note Rubio’s strategies and observe if they are working or not working for his campaign. When looking at his storefront just a few days ago, he was using the low profile approach and his logo was all in lowercase. This, I think, was a great choice because it did not project him as the so-called “ loud mouth republican” that people are trying to move away from. Especially those who did not have a fondness of former President Trump. Rubio has now changed his logo to all uppercase for this upcoming senate race and has chosen to leave the United States as the dot on top of the I. I think in terms of his strategy to change the letters this could help or hurt him. Those who are loyal believers in “Trumpism” may see Rubio’s logo as an upgrade; however, many who are set on never seeing Trump or a copycat in office will see this as a negative. The textbook suggests that “ For campaigns, maximizing the effectiveness of online messages can mean the difference in election outcomes. Determining the best placement of donation buttons or images and variables like text color and word choice, in everything from display ads to the campaign website, can increase the amount of money raised or the number of activists willing to do something on behalf of the candidate.” (Turk, 50) This goes to show that even the smallest change in branding can mean less money for Rubio. Rubio changing the logo is not coming at a great time since he is far behind on donations compared to his opponent Val Demings. This is one change I would definitely recommend, to go back to lower case. As for the rest of Mr.Rubio’s campaign, while looking at his website and other social media’s like Youtube he is still on the low profile side of campaigning. One of Rubio’s strategies that I think is wonderful is on his website along with his Youtube there is an option for spanish. Spanish is the second biggest language in the U.S and in Florida primarily there are a lot of Spanish speakers. I think that if you like Rubio or not, it's great to be able to hear and understand what the other candidate is saying. Rubio’s “Florida First” is a messaging strategy very similar to “American First” which of course has a connection to Donald Trump. I think that the idea of putting “Florida First” in voters' heads is very important. It shows that he is willing to always have the best intentions for the state. On Mr. Rubio’s youtube channel has 16 videos that are entitled “Florida First” these videos are simply 1-2 minute clips of essentially propaganda, promises of what he will do once he gets elected and how he will make “ Florida better.” Rubio being an incumbent for 10 years does help his chances and increases the value of his words.
DeleteFloridians can determine if he really has been doing what his campaign videos are implying or if he is full of it. As far as Mr. Rubio's youtube, he only has 17,000 subscribers. I do not think putting any energy into his youtube channel would impact the candidate in the slightest. This messaging strategy does not seem to be very effective. On his channel he also has 13 videos that are anti Val Demings. We have seen in past campaigns that it is not always effective to run on the fact that you are not the other candidate. It also does not look great that he has 16 videos for “florida First” and just about the same amount of videos for Anti Val Demings. If I were a voter in Florida and saw this, I would hope he is putting more time into focusing on the “Florida First” mentality versus worrying a lot about his opponent. Instead of a Youtube channel, I would focus more of my campaign dollars towards instagram and twitter where a large majority of the population go to get news and updates. In 2022 online campaign communication I think, is the single most important aspect in a campaign. In a blackboard article entitled “ 5 facts about political tweets shared by U.S adults” it stated that “ In the wake of major events, politics makes up a larger share of what U.S. adults tweet about then normal.” (Bestvater, Shah) This represents that when the average adult goes to twitter they will see something related to politics or share something related. Communication online in 2022 is not just simply what the campaign put out, but as I mentioned previously, the media is always watching. Now more than ever Politicians are getting treated like celebrities with paparazzi, asking to be on talk shows or game shows, modeling and so on. A politician's brand goes far beyond policies and promises, now we get a 360 view of who the person is and what they do. Voters are constantly getting updates and communication from the campaigns and outside of the campaigns. Communication between the voter and the candidate is only going to grow, with social media and technology moving at a now, faster than ever, we can see it all. Campaigning in this day in age is a very complex situation, it's so important that candidates have a strong message, are passionate and are willing to be open with their voters. Marco Rubio I think is a very strong candidate and he has been transparent with his voters which, will only help him this election.
DeleteWorks Cited:
Bestvater, Samuel, and Sono Shah. “5 Facts about Political Tweets Shared by U.S. Adults.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 June 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/30/5-facts-about-political-tweets-shared-by-u-s-adults/.
“Marco Rubio for Senate.” Marco Rubio, 9 Sept. 2022, https://marcorubio.com/#hpIntro/meetjeanette.
“Marco Rubio.” YouTube, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/c/MarcoRubio/playlists.
Semiatin, Richard J., and Michael Turk . “Chapter 4 .” Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, 2021.
By Mason Glod
ReplyDeleteAs the political climate continues to evolve, online campaigning methods have become increasingly important for candidates. A candidate's website can convey a large amount of essential information to the audience. Additionally, social media accounts provide an effective outlet for candidates to give their candidates up-to-date information at a fast pace.
Campaigns are now focusing on their social media, website and digital presence more than ever. Every election cycle, campaigns are having to rely on these digital methods more and more. These campaigns differs from previous campaigns because they are using these digital tools throughout all aspects of their operations. Author Michael Turk explains this phenomenon saying, "The tools and tactics of 'new media' now bleed over into every aspect of the campaign; from data analysis, to ad buys, to targeting financial resources on the ground, 'digital' is the new normal" (Turk 46). Campaigns have to use these tools more than ever to better reach their audience and to create a more robust and well-rounded campaign.
Looking specifically at the campaign I am studying, John Fetterman has done an excellent job with his messaging strategies. Fetterman's website is clean, consistent and straightforward, conveying essential information and easily providing ways to help his campaign. The "Issues" page is particularly impressive, with very clear and concrete stances on the most important issues throughout the campaign. Anyone looking for any information or resources for Fetterman would find it on his website. Fetterman's social media presence is also extremely impressive. Looking specifically at his TikTok page, Fetterman has developed a youthful personality with a Gen-Z type of humor that is certainly desirable for younger voters- the main audience of TikTok. His account has about 125,000 followers with videos getting between 30,000 and 300,000 views. These numbers are extremely impressive for a Congressional campaign. He uses the platform to engage with voters and often "troll" his opponent Mehmet Oz. This makes his content extremely engaging. The only suggestion I would have is to vary his content more. As of writing, 9 of the last 10 videos on his account are attack videos on Mehmet Oz. While these are funny and effective, many voters may also want to hear from Fetterman himself and learn more about his personality.
Online campaign communication is extremely important in the 2022 campaign because social media and online venues are increasingly where political discourse is happening. According to Samuel Bestaver and Sono Shah in their article "5 Facts About Political Tweets Shared by U.S. Adults", one-third of tweets in the U.S. in the months surrounding the 2020 election involved politics or political issues (Bestaver and Shah). Campaigns need to be on these platforms to capture a bigger audience and better engage with their publics. Essentially, if a candidate wants attention and votes, they must go online.
Work Cited
Bestvater, Samuel, and Sono Shah. “5 Facts about Political Tweets Shared by U.S. Adults.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 June 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/30/5-facts-about-political-tweets-shared-by-u-s-adults/.
Fetterman. Fetterman for PA, 2022. https://johnfetterman.com/
@johnfetterman. "Videos." TikTok, 2022, https://www.tiktok.com/@johnfetterman
Turk, Michael "Social and New Media Campaigns: Advantage of Source of Disinformation?." Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, 4th ed., edited by Richard J. Semiatin, CQ Press, 2020, pp. 65-79.
Raphael Warnock seems to be embracing social media more and more as the election process has moved forward. He recently announced that he joined TikTok and has been very active on Twitter in the last couple of months as well. Most of his tweets consist of talking about issues that are important to voters such as abortion, inflation, and health care but he also does not hesitate from taking jabs at his opponent in the upcoming midterm election, Rep. Herschel Walker. Twitter usage is something that has helped other candidates in the past; just ask Donald Trump. John Allen Hendricks and Dan Schill said in Chapter 5 of The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, “It was Twitter that partially thrust Trump into the White House in 2016, and he continued using the social media platform throughout his presidency and the 2020 campaign.” Any social media usage can be helpful to a candidate if they use the platform in the right way and while Warnock does not use Twitter anywhere near the same as Donald Trump, he has found a way to communicate well with native Georgians through the app. Many of his tweets get a lot of interaction, which can be very good. For example, Warnock tweeted “Herschel Walker just said he’d vote YES on a national abortion ban. We’ve got to make sure he never gets to cast that vote in the senate.” Abortion seems to be topic on the mind of many people in the country right now, and Warnock has been focused on discussing it more as of late, especially since these tweets get a lot of interaction when he talks about it, with this tweet getting nearly 69,000 likes. His tweets about abortion and Herschel Walker seem to be the ones getting the most interaction, which is why these are two of the topics he talks about the most on his twitter. Warnock’s website seems to focus heavily on many things he has done since he has been in office. One of the first things you see on his website is a list of his achievements including 516,000 letters responded to, $54,87B in Federal Investments secured for Georgians and 16,504 in casework resolved. He also has a recent news page which will list the most recent happenings of his work as Senator. It does not seem as if he has a big focus on his website to pull in voters, he definitely has a bigger focus on talking to voters through social media, especially Facebook or Twitter. I think that Warnock should utilize his website more and show more of his day to day as the Senator. Michael Turk said in Chapter 4 of Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, “The role of both the campaign website and these internal tools is to put as much data about the day-to-day operation of the campaign and the campaign supporters into the hands of the management staff to inform their strategy and ongoing adjustments to ensure success.” While Warnock has utilized his social media accounts successfully, I do think he could benefit from more long-form videos showing his work as Senator and on his campaign. He could do this through YouTube or through his website and I think it would allow voters to see him on a more personal level, more personal than a tweet or video talking about a certain issue or his opponent.
ReplyDeleteWarnock, Reverend Raphael. “Herschel Walker Just Said He'd Vote Yes on a National Abortion Ban. We've Got to Make Sure He Never Gets to Cast That Vote in the Senate.” Twitter, Twitter, 23 Sept. 2022, https://twitter.com/ReverendWarnock/status/1573407364799234049.
“U.S. Senator for Georgia.” Reverend Raphael Warnock, 7 Sept. 2022, https://www.warnock.senate.gov/.
Semiatin, Richard J., and Michael Turk. “Chapter 4 Social and New Media Campaigns: Advantage or Source of Disinformation.” Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, 4th ed., CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, 2021, pp. 51–52.
Denton, Robert E., et al. “Chapter 5 The Social Media Campaign of 2020.” The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communications Perspective, Rowman & Littlefield, an Imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., Lanham, MD, 2021, pp. 83–84.
According to the book chapter “The Social Media Campaign of 2020” by John Allen Hendricks and Dan Schill, approximately 43% of Americans receive their political news from internet resources, whether those be news websites or social media platforms. Later on in the chapter, the two imply that this 43% is the plurality in the United States when it comes to political media consumption, not television or radio. In today’s political landscape, politicians have begun to understand that this is how they should be campaigning and have been operating accordingly.
ReplyDeleteBack in 2012, when social media was merely a toddler, politicians did not have a grasp on how it can be used to their advantage. During that year’s presidential campaign, President Obama clearly outpaced his opponent, Governor Romney, in social media interaction, according to a Pew Research Center study ranging from June 4-17, 2012, with Obama having more YouTube interaction and Facebook likes. He also towered over Romney when it came to Twitter likes 150,106 to 8,601. Obama’s Twitter usage was primarily for tweeting out things he said, like this tweet from June 15, 2012, “‘The bill hasn’t changed. The need hasn’t changed. The only thing that has changed apparently was the politics.’” Romney’s Twitter feed from that time was on the offensive toward Obama with tweets like, “.@BarackObama is out of touch with the struggling middle class, claiming that the private sector is doing fine” he tweeted on June 11, 2012. These were the early stages of social media and politics intermingling, but they became used more strongly later on up and until now.
In 2022, we see social media, more specifically Twitter, being the primary form of communication between politicians and their constituents, as well as arguments with their opponents. Even the official White House account began to be used to snap at opponents of President Biden, like when they responded to House Representative Kevin Hern stating how much money in loans he has had forgiven when he was complaining about Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan (The New York Times). Posts like the aforementioned have been great with engaging audiences in favor of the one doing the instigating. For this upcoming 2022 midterm election, each candidate’s ability to promote themselves while also working at their opponent will be crucial to ensuring victories.
However, as I looked at the Herschel Walker campaign team’s use of social media, I wasn’t too thrilled. For this post, I decided to study his campaign’s use of the platform YouTube. Frankly, it seems to be nearly an afterthought to his team. The verified Herschel Walker YouTube channel hosts 19 separate videos, 17 of which are television campaign advertisements, one is a response to a Raphael Warnock campaign advertisement, and one is a Fox News segment that Walker was featured on. None of this content seems to have been made specifically for YouTube, and is most likely used to drive paid advertising for Walker’s campaign on the site.
While the Walker campaign’s use of YouTube is nearly non-existent, I do not see it as a missed opportunity as some might. With the way that social media is used currently, I do not see potential voters looking to seek out a candidate like Herschel Walker on a long-form content platform like YouTube. The best way for him to engage an audience would be to essentially surprise them with short and punchy campaign advertisements on platforms like Instagram or TikTok. According to an article from Forbes, advertisements that are six seconds long have the same impact as those that are fifteen seconds long, proving their worth on these platforms. However, the advertisements Walker has on his YouTube are meant for places like television, so they seem to be in the right place at the moment. Much of Walker’s social media worth will be proven in the realms of Instagram and Twitter, YouTube is just a formality in this environment.
Works Cited
DeleteDenton, Robert E., et al. “The Social Media Campaign of 2020.” The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communications Perspective, Rowman & Littlefield, an Imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., Lanham, MD, 2021, pp. 77–92.
Holpuch, Amanda. “White House Snaps Back at Twitter Critics of Student Loan Relief.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/us/white-house-twitter-ppp-loans.html.
Pew Research Center: Journalism & Media staff. “How the Presidential Candidates Use the Web and Social Media.” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, Pew Research Center, 15 Aug. 2012, https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2012/08/15/how-presidential-candidates-use-web-and-social-media/.
Vorhaus, Mike. “Shorter May Be Better. the Micro-Ad Works on Smartphones.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 22 Dec. 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikevorhaus/2020/12/21/shorter-may-be-better--the-micro-ad-works-on-smartphones/?sh=c6190a74fc45.
Political campaigns in the digital age must use their websites and social media platforms more strategically than ever. Previously, websites were a one stop shop for all things candidate related: issues, donations, and endorsements. Now, although the previously stated things are still important, a website is where the candidate’s brand is formed. It is where you can see photos of the candidate’s whereabouts, you can buy merch, and become a member of the candidate’s team.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is also far more important than ever. It is the biggest platform that candidates can reach voters on, and that was seen most prominently in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Not only was social media used by the candidates, but it was also used by foreign entities to meddle with the 2016 election. In Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, Michael Turk describes how the “Russian government conducted a sustained operation to influence the U.S. election by creating and disseminating content intended to be highly viral while perpetuating false or inflammatory information and to sow discontent in the American electorate” (Turk). It could even be argued that this was all set up for the 2020 election where there was more distrust in the electorate than ever before.
Now, for a more nuanced approach, let’s look specifically at Herschel Walker’s approach to social media through his Facebook page. On first glance, his page looks a bit like my dad’s Facebook wall with iPhone pictures and a few live videos here and there. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it shows that he is just a normal guy. He mostly uses Facebook as a medium to showcase the events that he holds, and a little bit of Warnock slander here and there (Walker Facebook). Walker is using his social media platforms to show off the pseudoevents that he is holding, so that he can show voters what he is doing around Georgia.
Another potential candidate that is taking their own route in terms of social media is Former President Trump. He created his own social media platform, Truth Social, after being suspended from multiple mainstream platforms. One of the most prominent things he used Truth Social for was to announce the raid on Mar-A-Lago. Not only did that garner lots of attention, Truth saw a major uptick in downloads in the days following the raid. According to Vice News, “The week after the search took place, the number of Truth Social app downloads jumped by almost 550% compared to the previous week, according to figures shared with VICE News by Data AI, a company that tracks app downloads that was formerly known as App Annie” (Vice). This is a potentially huge for Trump going into the 2024 election.
DeleteDifferent candidates use various social media platforms for various reasons, and it is the best way to directly reach voters.
Gilbert, David. “Trump's Truth Social Has Seen a Huge Spike since FBI Search.” VICE, 19 Aug. 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ax3k3/truth-social-downloads-spike-fbi-search?utm_source=email&utm_medium=editorial&utm_content=news&utm_campaign=220819.
Turk. M. “Social & New Media Campaigns” in Campaigns on The Cutting-Edge 4th Edition edited by Semiatin in 2020
Walker, Herschel. “Herschel Walker Facebook.” Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/TeamHerschel.
Raphael Warnock given he is of a younger age should be very active on social media. Younger people want a candidate that is interactive with the platforms. People who they watch on TV and popular personalities who they can relate to are important for candidates to interact with for younger voters. A lot of young people are not paying attention to major news channels and newspapers to get updates on the elections. In past campaigns television was the most effective marketing strategy. Commercials were able to reach all audiences to gain supporters. In today’s times that is not the case due to the increased usage of streaming services. Social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok are very effective in spreading information so it would be a smart marketing move to utilize these easy and quick platforms. Warnock is not on TikTok, the only videos that refer to him are people that are sharing their opinion on his policies and campaign. Other videos that pertain to him are those in which he is compared to Herschel Walker and those videos are great however they take away Warnock’s identity. Given Walker is a larger figure and is of higher entertainment status than Warnock, the videos where they are compared is not helping Warnock’s campaign. I also believe that if someone in entertainment spoke on Warnock in a positive or negative light it would gain him some attention. Nicole Polizzi (Snooki) from the hit reality show Jersey Shore spoke on Mehmet Oz’s campaign. To a large population they found out that Mehmet Oz was in politics due to that one social media video and that is important. Any news is good news in this day and age because you want someone to know your name and be familiar with you and then afterwards you persuade them into being a supporter. Warnock does not have a large enough fanbase to be as lax as he is in terms of his marketing whereas Walker who already had a platform before politics can be. Warnock’s website is very informative however, it is not engaging and it is very straight to the point which is a good thing however he does not have any of his policies or anything on his website so people know very little about his beliefs.
ReplyDeleteSeitz, Loree. “Snooki Trolls Mehmet Oz's PA Senate Run: 'You'll Be Back Home in Jersey Soon' (Video).” TheWrap, 14 July 2022, https://www.thewrap.com/snooki-trolls-dr-mehmet-oz-senate-run-video/.
“U.S. Senator for Georgia.” Reverend Raphael Warnock, 7 Sept. 2022, https://www.warnock.senate.gov/.
Authors John Allen Hendricks and Dan Schill express in their chapter titled, “The Social Media Campaign of 2022” the importance of social media in the post pandemic election world. They share an impressive quote reflecting the digital age saying, “In 2020, social media use was at an all-time high, with 72 percent of Ameri- cans of voting age using social media platforms and 69 percent of that demo- graphic is on Facebook alone”. Growing up, if I ever wanted to know what was going on in the world, after school I would come home and walk into the family room to find the news on. However, in today’s world, many young-adults and some families even don’t have cable T.V. anymore. Social media and online news sources have completely taken over the ways in which people consume news. This is why online campaigning and communication is pivotal in the 2022 campaign. Without it, how are any voters supposed to even know who you are as a candidate? In 2012, Pew Research examined the social and digital tactics of Barack Obama versus Mitt Romney and compared the two. It’s interesting to look back and see the strategies of the two candidates because they were essentially the first two to be able to utilize social media to their advantage. The article is titled, “How the Presidential Candidates Use the Web and Social Media”. I thought it was interesting how “the Obama campaign posted nearly four times as much content as the Romney campaign and was active on nearly twice as many platforms”. In addition to, “the Obama campaign has also localized its digital messaging significantly, adding state-by-state content pages filled with local information”. I think this information my election eve candidate, Raphael Warnock, should really consider. I don’t feel like his team’s campaign messaging has been that effective. In my own opinion, I find his social media pages and even website a bit boring. Social media has become much more casual, yet on Facebook YouTube and Twitter, Warnock and his team have a very formal tone. I’m not arguing that Warnock and his team should take the Trump approach and just tweet whatever they want. However, I think that especially in enticing a younger generation, it helps to have a less formal tone of voice on social media. Additionally, I feel like Warnock’s website could use a revamping. I find his font to be a little old-fashioned and the colors he uses to be a little subdued. This may work for a varity of other people, but personally I don’t love it. Especially when comparing his website to his competition Hershel Walker’s page , that features bold lettering and vibrant colors.
ReplyDeletePew Research Center: Journalism & Media staff. (2020, August 27). How the presidential candidates use the web and Social Media. Pew Research Center's Journalism Project. Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2012/08/15/how-presidential-candidates-use-web-and-social-media/
DeleteHendricks, John Allen and Dan Schill, “The Social Media Campaign of 2020.” In The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, edited by Robert E. Denton, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
It is almost imperative that Political campaigns use many different social media sites to target numerous groups of voters in various demographics in today’s technologically advanced era. According to the chapter “The Social Media Campaign of 2020”, John Allen Hendricks and Dan Schill said “Since 2008, when candidate Barack Obama firmly established the use of the Internet, social and digital media platforms have rapidly increased their centrality in each consecutive presidential election. By 2020, due to the pandemic, social media use in political campaigns was integral to the communication strategy because the candidates were forced to move their campaigning primarily online for social distancing reasons” (Hendricks and Schill 78). Since President Barak Obama, candidates have used social media to reach voters to provide more information on their campaigns and values. The use of social media has affected voters’ opinions in both positive and negative ways because it is so persuasive. The use of social media has changed political campaigns because it has enabled voters to participate more actively.
ReplyDeleteLooking at Val Demings Facebook page, she has an audience of 52k followers which shows her social media pages are reaching large amounts of people. Val Deming’s entire page is filled with videos and pictures of her and her supporters at recent rallies and organizations she has held. One of the most recent posts on her page is a video captioned “When you’re running for U.S. Senate against a no-show Senator” where she is seen playing dominos with a large group of different people. I think that Val Deming’s messaging strategies have been very effective in showing that she is showing up for the people of Florida, especially with her new ‘#RunningtoWin” campaign. However, I think Val Demings could better her strategies by pressing her values and goals more instead of focusing on throwing shots at her opponent Marc Rubio. In addition to this, Val Deming’s Facebook page only has reposted tik tok videos, I think it is important that she pay more attention to this platform and creates original content for her 52k followers.
I think that online campaign communication is extremely important in the 2020 campaign. According to the provided article “5 Facts About Political Tweets Shared by U.S. Adults” Samuel Bestaver and Sono Shah said “The political tweets that users chose to retweet also tended to be quite popular, receiving more engagement across the platform than retweets of nonpolitical content. The typical (median) political tweet retweeted by Americans received a total of 4,312 likes – nearly three times as many as the median nonpolitical retweet (1,490 likes)” (Bestaver and Shah). While this article is only referring to one online communication platform, it shows how political topics gain a great deal of attention from platform users, much more than nonpolitical topics. Therefore, it is important to use social media platforms in the 2022 campaign to communicate with the voting public and give voters quick access to pressing political topics and events.
Hendricks, John Allen and Dan Schill, “The Social Media Campaign of 2020.” In The 2020 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, edited by Robert E. Denton, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
Delete“Val Deming's Facebook.” Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/val.demings.
Weiss, Joanna, et al. “The Hard Work of the 2020 Instagram Spouse.” POLITICO Magazine, 13 July 2019, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/13/instagram-husbands-2020-doug-emhoff-chasten-buttigieg-227355/.