Social media in the United States presidential election, 2016 facts for kids

In 2016, social media had the biggest effect ever on the United States presidential election. For the first time, social media created the change (of plans for Democratic and Republican primaries) rather than talking about it. Many journalists expected this.

Benefits to candidates

Many presidential candidates benefited from the use of social media in the 2016 election.

Bernie Sanders

Many people think social media is the reason Bernie Sanders did so well in the Democratic primaries. In May 2016, 450,000 people belonged to the pro-Sanders Facebook group Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash. Another pro-Sanders group, Bernie or Hillary?, exists.

Donald Trump

Social media is also thought by most people to be the reason Donald Trump did so well in the Republican primaries. Activity by Donald Trump supporters on social media was one of the things talked about at the first Republican debate.

Right Side Broadcasting Network often uploads live footage of Donald Trump rallys on YouTube, causing their popularity to go way up.

Hillary Clinton

In April 2016, Correct the Record, a pro-Clinton super PAC, started a program called "Barrier Breakers" that wants to compete with the mostly online volunteer efforts of Sanders and Trump supporters. With $1 million in funding, Correct the Record hired a paid staff of people that used to be reporters, bloggers, public affairs specialists, designers to post good things about Clinton.

On June 9, 2016, as a response to Donald Trump's tweet about Obama's endorsement to Clinton, she wrote with a three word tweet: "Delete your account". This tweet has become her most retweeted tweet of all time.

By the end of June 2016, this most retweeted tweet of all time got more than 1,000,000 interactions.

Memes

One form of social media being used in the 2016 election are memes. The Guardian compared Internet memes to political cartoons, saying, "For the first time in a US election cycle, community-generated (created) memes have grown to play a significant (important) role in political discourse (debate), similar to the classic printed cartoon. While an Internet meme is unlikely to destroy a political career, lots of memes targeting a candidate might." Many memes attacked Ted Cruz.

Images for kids

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  Donald Trump's official White House portrait (taken 2017)

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  Hillary Clinton in 2016

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  Twitter activity of Ted Cruz

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  Twitter activity of Bernie Sanders from his first tweet in May 2009. His Twitter activity increased during his presidential campaign.

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  Twitter activity of Jill Stein from her first tweet in February 2010 to September 2017. Her Twitter activity increased during her presidential campaign in 2012 and 2016