Frida ghitis origin

Social Media’s Victory in the 2016 Presidential Election

There has been a lot of talk since the 2016 presidential election because of how unique it

was compared to all the previous ones. Only recently has social media started to play a

significant role in political campaigns, which can clearly be seen with Donald trump’s campaign

in the 2016 election. This paper examines articles written by Michael Barbaro and Christine

Lagorio-Chafkin for the New York Times alongside academic journals written by Gunn Enli and

Frida Ghitis for the European Journal of Communications and the World Politics Review,

respectively. Regarding social media, many tend to focus on its rise in popular culture, the

following of people of people that it tends to bring, and its use by the candidate or its political

party. Although there are people who argue that Trump’s political views and ideologies are what

gave him an advantage, Trump’s social media is what led him to victory.

For one thing, it is clear that social media is generally on the rise in society, today. A

majority of researchers would agree that the rise of social media has been prominent in these past

few years. Michael Barbaro, author of “Pithy, Mean, and Powerful: Donald Trump Mastered

Twitter for 2016,” states how social media is free and can relay information to the public in a

quick way. Barbaro points out how this can be useful, especially as it slowly substitutes for

“costly, conventional” methods. As an example, Barbaro mentions how rival campaigns

acknowledge the advantage Trump has because of his millions of Twitter followers and how he

gets more mentions and retweets compared to other candidates. Gunn Enli, author of “Twitter as

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Arena for the Authentic Outsider: Exploring the Social Media Campaigns of Trump and Clinton

in the 2016 US Presidential Election,” takes this further, believing that social media can easily

reach the masses and serve as a main source of information. Enli reminds us that new platforms

have emerged while existing ones have expanded. Christin Lagorio-Chafkin, author of “Reddit

and the God Emperor of the Internet,” has a more specific focus on social media, claiming that

Reddit has become one of the most significant websites on the internet. Lagorio-Chafkin

observes how Trump’s subreddit “The_Donald” has gained around 300,000 members (It has

over half a million now as of October 2017). On the other hand, Frida Ghitis, author of “Trump’s

Victory Was Aided by Russia’s Weaponized Social Media Campaign,” takes on a different

focus: WikiLeaks. Arguably a type of social media, WikiLeaks grew to a significant size such

that it could be used to weaponize information. While all four authors believe that social media is

on the rise, Barbaro and Enli focused on Twitter’s rise. On the other hand, Lagorio-Chafkin puts

his focus on Reddit’s development, and Ghitis puts her spotlight on WikiLeak’s potential

because of its size. With its unsurpassable ability for communication, it is not surprising that

social media has become one of the internet’s forefronts.

All the authors portrayed their own opinion on social media’s popularity; my personal

opinion coincides with their general idea: that social media is on the rise. The authors differ in

that they each focus on one of social media’s many different aspects. Barbaro notes how its

ability to quickly relay information can be useful and cheap; I can send a snap on snapchat or

direct message an individual on Instagram, and the message would be delivered instantaneously

on the recipient’s mobile device. Enli takes this further, stating how social media can even be the

main source of information for many individuals. I agree with Enli’s extension based on results

found by the Pew Research Center. This organization found that two-thirds of U.S. adults get

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news from social media rather than regular news outlets or newspaper, which were the former

methods of obtaining information. Lagorio-Chafkin takes a closer look at the rise of a specific

social media: Reddit. Likewise, Ghitis points to a specific social media: WikiLeaks. Lagorio-

Chafkin and Ghitis focus more on a specific outlet within social media, while Barbaro and Enli’s

view the social media’s rise in general. Overall, I agree with all the authors. In this day and age,

social media is inevitably rising. Taking a step back from the evidence that these authors point

out, it was clear to see how social media has taken a hold of society. When I was young, a

portion of my peers were just using Facebook. Now, not only are more people on social media,

there are more social media to choose from such as Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook,

Twitter, etc. The list continues to grow. Not only are more people using social media, the amount

of social media outlets is rising as well.

Social media’s sphere of influence is clearly large, and Trump has shared in some of its

success, as indicated by the supporters through one of his social media, Twitter. The number of

followers a user has usually reflects the popularity of that individual in a particular social