Racing Twitter to the White House: 2016 Presidential Hopefuls on Social Media

Every time a politician joins a social network, a news article comes out declaring that network could end up being the social platform of Election 2016. In January, when Jeb Bush introduced his super PAC, Right to Rise, via Instagram, The Washington Post was quick to ponder a 2016 “Instagram Election.” Then in March, fledgling live-streaming apps Meerkat and Periscope appeared on the political scene as if from nowhere and presidential hopefuls, among them Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina, started clamoring to use the hot, new mobile apps to connect with the public; and suddenly we’re in the throes of the Meer-i-scope Election.

We’re still hearing a lot about “older” social media sites, Twitter and Facebook, too. Hillary Clinton recently let a small business owner take over her Twitter account for the day. And Bernie Sanders is practically a Facebook superstar with 1.2 million likes on his congress Facebook page, and quirky, “grumpy old guy” posts that attract tens of thousands of likes.

Read full article