Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election

Abstract

In the 2016 US presidential election campaign, social media platforms were increasingly used as direct sources of news, bypassing the editorial media. With the candidates’ millions of followers, Twitter has become a platform for mass communication and the candidate’s main online information channel. Likewise, social media has provided a platform for debating and critiquing the mainstream media by the campaigns and their networks. This article discusses the Twitter strategies of the democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and republican candidate Donald Trump during their US 2016 presidential election campaigns. While the Clinton campaign’s strategy confirms theories regarding the professionalisation of election campaigns, the Trump campaign’s more amateurish yet authentic style in social media points towards de-professionalisation and even amateurism as a counter-trend in political communication.