Which Vice Presidential Candidate won the social media debate? In most cases, looking at the debate from a rhetoric point of view, Pence wins in most aspects but on social media is the story the same? On Twitter and Facebook Mike Pence was trending on a greater volume than Kaine but Google showed something quite different. On Twitter “@Mike_Pence grabbed 60 percent of the conversation” and “picked up 22,000 new Twitter followers” while Kaine grabbed 40 percent of the conversation and “attracted 15,000 new followers.” Just like Trump, Pence grabbed the conversation on Facebook and Twitter but does that mean that Pence and Trump are the favorites, most likely not, it means that their topics are creating the most interest with the viewers watching the debate, good and bad interest. On the other hand, “more users googled Kaine (55 percent) than Pence (45 percent).” The Internet is becoming more and more important in Presidential campaigns because computers and access to them are becoming more and more prevalent. Of course Trump attracts a lot of attention on social media because his status before he ran for President. Even though Pence grabbed the a majority of attention on social media, “Kaine ended up winning the overall top social moment, with this jab at Pence: “He is asking everybody to vote for somebody that he cannot defend.'”
So, is the impact of social media in Presidential campaigns and debates a positive or a negative? It’s harder to decipher the tweets and posts of hundreds of thousands of people because everyone uses different language to express the same thing such as sarcasm, it’s harder for someone to understand a tweet than it is to watch someone say something in person and follow their body movements and facial expressions. In the case of the Vice Presidential Debate, millions of tweets were going out at one time, good and bad towards both candidates. The one overarching good quality of social media is the outreach that it contains. Social media keeps so many more people informed, whether accurate or inaccurate, more and more people care and gain interest because of the outreach of social media. Does the number of tweets and google searches correlate with who will win the election? In the last election it did, but will it foreshadow this election also?
Source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mike-pence-tim-kaine-on-social-media-vice-presidential-debate/
I really like the point you are making about the importance of social media and its impact on this election and the elections we will face in the future. Social media is a way to instantly gauge the pulse of Americans, as well as people all over the world, which makes it an incredibly convenient source for gauging how people are reacting to certain events, actions, and, in this case, debates. Overall, Pence has shown me that he is the better Vice Presidential candidate and polls conducted after the debate and statistics from your post seem to agree with my statement made above. In saying that though, I think your point on Kaine’s “winning” comment is incredibly accurate. Social media and instant gratification has become such a huge part of our life today and people seem to live their lives in “140 characters of less” so Kaine’s quick jab at Pence about trying to persuade voters to vote for someone not even he could support made for social media gold. I think we will see more and more of a social media presence in elections at all levels in the future as candidates and parties try to find any advantage possible.
You are right that social media is a huge part of presidential elections. In our textbook, it is explained that campaigning on social media is a growing strategy that has not existed in past elections. I do think it alters a lot of the ways that candidates are viewed. Trump, for example, has gotten so much negative attention for things he has tweeted and even for the times he has tweeted something. I know a lot of people who follow Trump who are not supporting him in the election but just so they can “poke” and “laugh” at the things he tweets. To answer your specific question, I do not necessarily think that the amount of followers correlates with who will win the election. I follow both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump on Twitter. However, I do not follow the vice presidential candidates on Twitter because I have not even thought to do so. I`m not sure if you looked, but it is interesting to see the amount of followers that each have on Twitter. Here it is broken down side-by-side if you or anyone else who reads this post wants to see:
Trump= 12.7 M
Clinton= 9.9 M
Pence= 438.5 K
Kaine= 377.9 K
It is interesting to see that if follower amounts did correlate with who will win the election, Trump and Pence would have it!