User:Jcham04/Social media in the 2020 United States presidential election

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Social media was used extensively in the 2020 United States presidential election. Both incumbent president Donald Trump and Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden's campaigns employed digital-first advertising strategies, prioritizing digital advertising over print advertising in the wake of the pandemic. Trump had previously utilized his Twitter account in the past to reach his voters and make announcements, both during and after the 2016 election. Biden also made use of social media networks to express his views and opinions on important events such as the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the protests following the murder of George Floyd, and the controversial appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Similar to the previous presidential election, social media helped shape the course of events, with candidates often hunting for 'viral moments'. These could include certain posts, remarks or videos. Data from a research carried out by Pew Research Centre shows that two thirds of Americans receive their information from websites such as Facebook and Twitter and these platforms are slowly becoming more relevant resources than older forms of media like newspapers and radio. Social media is a key element of Americans' daily lives, providing them with information on the most recent events as well as permitting political engagement. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook permit users to publicly support their candidate of choice and interact with other supporters through political groups and virtual events. Data from Socialbakers shows that 72% of American citizens of voting age made use of some form of social media, while 69% of those citizens only use Facebook.

In contrast to the previous election, the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal that was exposed after Donald Trump's electoral victory in 2016 led to tighter regulation on the harvesting of personal data for political advertising. Additionally, many platforms enforced stricter rules on the content that was being posted, and also incorporated fact checking software into their applications. The software repeatedly flagged Republican candidate Donald Trump's posts, which led him to accuse social media companies of bias against his campaign.

Social media has helped decentralize media power by giving many individuals and organizations the chance to make their voices heard and contribute to the public narrative. This has led to a larger quantity of diversified news content and opinions available to a variety of audiences.

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Background[edit]

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump made extensive use of his Twitter account to broadcast his thoughts and opinions during his campaign. The Trump campaign also utilized targeted advertising on the social media site Facebook, by hiring political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to create these personalized ads for users. A subsequent whistle-blowing by an anonymous source, (later revealed to be former Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie) revealed that personal data of the users had been illegally used, which led to a major data scandal and the liquidation of the company, as well as the eventually testification of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in front of the United States Congress.

Joe Biden, the Democratic Party nominee for 2020, had not made much use of social media in the past, but used portions of his campaign budget to run advertising on certain platforms, most notably Facebook, where he is estimated to have spent up to $1.6 million on advertising leading up to the California Democratic primary.

Joe Biden campaign[edit]

Similar to his Republican party opponent, Donald Trump, Joe Biden made extensive use of Twitter to broadcast news of his campaign, as well as his opinions on various policies and his proposed changes. Biden used the platform to publicly announce California senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, and also to talk to her publicly. Biden also made use of the app TikTok to reach out to teen audiences and promote his campaign by establishing a paid partnership with a group of creators under the name of TikTok for Biden.

Biden's team made use of learning from Hillary Clinton's mistakes during her presidential campaign in 2016. Biden's campaign made use of digital ads and presence on television to target swing states. Biden made use of online campaigns due to the current pandemic crisis. He was aware of the importance of social media to voter turnout. Biden used digital advertising to send out messages of unity and strength in the midst of the pandemic, bringing comfort to many voters.

Donald Trump campaign[edit]

The Trump campaign made considerable use of social media in the 2016 presidential election, and continued to do so in 2020. Trump used the online platform Twitter to broadcast opinions and news on his campaign to his supporters in a provocative and attention-grabbing manner, and his campaign staff created personalized advertisements for Facebook users. The personal data used to create these ads was obtained illegally, something which led to the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Trump's re-election campaign has been making use of use of multiple social media platforms as well as targeted ads since mid-2019 in an attempt to gain voters early. On 29 June 2020, Reddit deleted Trump's fans' subreddit, r/The_Donald, for violating its policies repeatedly over its lifetime.

Trump hosted a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma to promote his campaign. Most tickets were bought by Tik Tok users and K-Pop fans to protest his candidacy, and many seats remained empty. Trump used social media platforms - especially Twitter - to criticize, mock, and target his opponents. Six advance staffers tested positive for coronavirus following the event.

Facebook[edit]
In December 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported that candidate Senator Bernie Sanders and President Trump were the most active on Facebook, followed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

President Trump already had an established online presence on Facebook with around 29 million followers at the time of the elections while Biden's follower count reached only 2.8 million.

Twitter[edit]
Donald Trump has been criticized for his false and misleading statements, which have repeatedly been flagged by Twitter for violating its policies. On Thursday, March 5th, 2020, Twitter released new features said to act against the spread of disinformation surrounding the 2020 election, including a new policy that attempts to flag misleading media. Twitter defines misleading media as synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context content that may deceive or confuse users and lead to the spread of misconceptions.As a way to counter the spread of disinformation, Twitter warns users that they may label Tweets with a blue exclamation point and the words “manipulated media” underneath the video, photo, or audio if the platform believes the content shared is either deceptively altered, manipulated, fabricated, or being shared under a false context. Content such as deepfakes and cheap fakes fall under the category of potentially flagged content under this new regulation. Twitter also states that they may show a warning to those who attempt to share potentially misleading content. According to Twitter’s head of site integrity Yoel Roth, moderators are looking out for evidence of alteration to content causing a change to its meaning. Twitter claims content will be removed if there is evidence of significant changes to the content to the extent that it could have a harmful impact or hinder public safety.

A Pew survey of 3518 twitter users in 2020 shows that the most active 10% generate 92% of the tweets. This highly active group is 69% Democratic and 26% Republican. Furthermore, the high-activity Democrats post twice as many posts per month as high-activity Republicans.

Joe Biden surpassed Trump in many key metrics during the 2020 presidential election. Despite Biden having a lower follower count, 11 million followers at the time of Socialbakers's data analysis, his top three tweets have almost double the interactions that Trump, who had 87 million followers at the time, received on his top three tweets.

Influencer impact [edit]
Influencers have the ability to influence views on things such as products, brands, and political candidates. Influencers' voices are being utilized more and more in politics with the rise of social media. This election is the first one that relied heavily on influencers' impact and reach with audiences. Influencers are often younger and were vocal about their support for Biden in the 2020 presidential elections. Influencers who support opposing parties are not as vocal due to the polarizing nature of their views and its possible impact on brand deals and support from their audiences. Data from The Marketing Institute shows that 70% of teens trust influencers more than traditional celebrities while 49% of consumers rely on influencer advice and suggestions. Due to their large impact on consumer decisions, influencers have gained the power to sway voting decisions in the past few years. Influencers and brands used their power to sway and encourage votes. Youtuber David Dobrik incentivized his viewers to vote by organizing a car giveaway which those who voted were registered into.