Donald Trump’s Twitter account @realDonaldTrump hasn’t always been the powerful communications channel it has become. In the month since the election, Mr. Trump has taken to Twitter to lambast what he sees as unfavorable media coverage, rail against corporations who contemplate taking jobs offshore and defended his impromptu phone calls with foreign leaders.
Journalists and PR practitioners are trying to understand if there is any method in Trump’s Twitter madness.
For the first time, Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, spoke out saying he has “complicated” feelings about Donald Trump’s use of the social media service.
Where it all began.
In May 2009, Trump, then a private businessman, sent his first tweet promoting a forthcoming appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Then followed tweets about The Apprentice, his talk show appearances, family milestones and quotes from Donald Trump himself. The tweets directly from him were usually tagged “from Donald Trump,” but rarely veered into politics.
In the last six months of 2011, his Twitter output went from almost 150 tweets a year to more than 100 tweets a month. In 2016, he averaged 375 tweets a month through to the end of November.
Trump formally announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015, with a campaign rally and speech at Trump Tower in New York City. Ahead of his announcement, he retweeted more than a dozen tweets celebrating the idea of a Trump run.
Donald Trump will continue to tweet as president, according to incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who stated that Trump’s engagement with supporters via social media will be “a really exciting part of the job.”
In addition to his 18 million Twitter followers, Trump has about 39 million combined followers across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, which, Spicer said, “allows him to add an element of a conversation that’s never occurred.”
Trump’s ongoing use of Twitter is going to be a political/social experiment on an unprecedented scale. Where it leads no one yet knows.
First published by Adrian G Stewart at OOKII.Company
Adrian G Stewart
