Presidential Candidacy Social Media

Tatum Bundy

Mrs. Christine Bates

HUM 110

5 October 2016

Presidential Candidacy Social Media

The presidential candidates of 2016 have used social media as the main way

to promote their campaigns. The four remaining candidates are Hillary Clinton,

Donald Trump, Johnson Weld, and Jill Stein. Hillary Clinton is a democratic

candidate whose main campaign points are a fair tax system, a criminal justice

reform, and racial justice. Donald Trump is the republican candidate; his main

points are childcare reforms, paying for the wall, an immigration reform, and his

U.S.-China trade reform. Johnson Weld is a libertarian who wants to stop wasteful

spending, have a tax reform, and give state and local governments more control over

the education system if he becomes president. Jill Stein is the green party candidate

this election and believes in ending poverty, a new green plan to improve the

environment, and making jobs a right. Although social media can have a good

impact on the presidential campaigns it can also have a large negative influence. I

believe that social media has a big effect on how people sees each candidate.

Each candidate uses multiple social media accounts. Donald Trump uses

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. His target audience would be adults,

teens, and senior citizens. He uses these to give updates on his campaign, to share

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articles written about him, and also to show some of the downfalls in Hillary’s

campaign. An example of one of his posts is “his is a MOVEMENT like NEVER seen

before! Together, we are going to take back our country - and WE will

#makeamericagreatagain”.

Hillary Clinton has many social media accounts including Twitter, Facebook,

Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Medium. She targets almost all

audiences and can spread her word to practically anyone. She uses these to promote

herself, promote her campaign, points out Trump’s flaws, and to share democratic

quotes. “The central question in this election is what kind of country we want to be

and what kind of future we want to build for our children and our grandchildren.” is

an example of one of Hillary’s many posts.

Jill Stein uses the social media websites Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and

YouTube. She can use these to target adults, teens, and the elderly. Her social media

websites are used to inform us about her campaign, show her side of the debates,

and give information on side projects she is doing. A post she made on her

Instagram specifically highlighted facts about the other candidates versus opinion.

An example of one of these post is "Polls show the majority of voters backing Clinton

and Trump are motivated by fear of the other, not support for their candidate.".

Johnson Weld uses the social media sites Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,

YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. He can use these to target

almost any audience, like Hillary. He uses these to point out flaws he finds in the

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other candidates, to support his own campaign and to promote the idea of him being

able to join the bigger debates. An example of one of his post is 'Just so hard to

figure out why our support keeps growing!" as the caption with a diminishing photo

of Trump and Clinton. All the candidates use their social media in different ways but