Going Social: A Comparative Analysis of Presidents' Official and Social Media Messages

Abstract

This article explores how structural changes to the media environment, such as the development of social media, might enhance or impede presidents' public leadership efforts. We argue that characteristics of Twitter as a medium provide presidents with incentives to exploit these new opportunities and alter the content of presidential rhetoric. To test this claim about presidential rhetoric, we use text analysis tools to compare the readability, sentiment, and content of contemporary presidents' messages from press conferences and exchanges with reporters to tweets from the Barack Obama and Donald Trump presidencies. Our findings suggest that social media is being used by presidents in their public leadership efforts and that the medium of communication has a significant influence on the content of communication.

Politically Motivated Avoidance in Social Networks: A Study of Facebook and the 2020 Presidential Election

“…Social media are now a central feature of American public life, serving both as a primary source of news and information for many Americans, as well as a conduit for various forms of political engagement. Data show that SNS-users increasingly rely on social media to stay up-to-date and informed on political matters (i.e., Shearer & Matsa, 2018), and as a consequence, elected officials increasingly rely on social media to communicate with the public (i.e., Evans et al, 2014;Fontaine & Gomez, 2020;Straus et al, 2013). According to data collected by the Pew Research Center, roughly two-thirds of Americans now receive at least some portion of their news through social media (Shearer & Matsa, 2018).…”

The Power of a Tweet? Social Media, Presidential Communication, and the Politics of Health

“…In this regard, Twitter has become a particularly important new medium of presidential communication to examine because “(1) it is accessible to citizens who may not gain political information from traditional media; (2) it allows presidents to speak to their base directly and allows for interaction between citizens and the president, rather than just unidirectional communication; and (3) it allows presidents to respond directly and instantaneously to political opponents and current events as they unfold” (Fontaine and Gomez 2020). Indeed, social media in general, and Twitter in particular, holds the opportunity to reshape presidential leadership and communication (Fontaine and Gomez 2020) and might be a particularly useful tool for presidents hampered by gridlock in Washington, DC (Fontaine and Gomez 2020; Ouyang and Waterman 2020). Moreover, presidents hold the “first‐mover advantage” more clearly with Twitter than for traditional forms of communication (Ouyang and Waterman 2020).…”

“…Moreover, presidents hold the “first‐mover advantage” more clearly with Twitter than for traditional forms of communication (Ouyang and Waterman 2020). Social media may also be a particularly useful tool for communicating with partisans (Fontaine and Gomez 2020; Wood 2009) and for engaging in party leadership (Fontaine and Gomez 2020).…”

“…Several descriptive analyses now exist of President Barack Obama's and President Donald Trump's tweets, as well as tweets by unsuccessful presidential candidates (Fontaine and Gomez 2020; Galán‐García 2017; Hughes 2020; Lacatus 2021; Lee and Lim 2016; Nicasio‐Varea et al 2020; Ott and Dickinson 2019, 2020; Pain and Masullo Chen 2019; Pérez‐Curiel and Limón‐Naharro 2019; Ross and Rivers 2018; Şahin et al 2021; Wignell et al 2021). A smaller body of research has used observational methods (Pérez‐Curiel and Limón‐Naharro 2019; Scacco et al 2020; Zheng et al 2021) to study whether and how presidential communication impacts public opinion through these modern forms of media.…”

“…In other words, the mass public may not always be a president's true audience; public appeals may instead really be aimed at legislators, scholars, public administrators, or the press (Eshbaugh‐Soha and Peake 2020; Fu and Howell 2020). Importantly, presidents—particularly with today's levels of partisan polarization—may be focused on copartisan constituents rather than the public as a whole (Cavari 2013, 2017; Fontaine and Gomez 2020). Further, even when the mass public is the true audience of presidential communication, presidents may be aiming at goals bigger than moving opinion on a specific policy.…”