Trump announcement makes huge Facebook splash

-
Donald Trump is a very flawed presidential candidate,  but give the guy credit for this: He certainly knows how to generate buzz. The rambling, off-the-cuff tirade Tuesday that served as an announcement of his candidacy lit up Facebook with more chatter than anybody else in the field except Hillary Clinton.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Facebook users appeared to be getting bored of presidential announcements, as the number of people chattering about each new entrant into the field slowed to a trickle. Cruz, the combative Texas Republican, was the first to announce his candidacy and generated 5.5 million interactions on Facebook — likes, posts, comments and shares about the candidate — from 2.1 million users. It was a high watermark that no other Republican candidate came close to in the ensuing weeks. Serious presidential contenders like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Florida governor Jeb Bush generated less than half as much conversation as Cruz. Long shots like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham generated chatter from fewer than 100,000 people.
Then along comes Trump. On Tuesday, 3.4 million Facebook users in the U.S. generated 6.4 million interactions regarding his announcement, the social media service announced. Only Clinton has generated more buzz on Facebook, with 4.7 million users producing 10.1 million interactions about her the day she announced.
Trump is made for Facebook, of course. He is essentially a showman and entertainer for a living, a reality TV star and an unpredictable wild card in politics. The Facebook data makes no effort to assess sentiment, so there is no way of knowing how many of the posts about Trump were negative or sarcastic. And his announcement was full of shareable zingers like “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you . . . They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with (them). They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
But Trump’s Facebook splash is part of the problem he poses for the Republican field. He can simply dominate a conversation and grab the attention of the audience, even if most of the audience has no intention of voting for him. Trump is, in essence, a very entertaining distraction from the business of choosing a presidential nominee.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Surgeon performs brain surgery on wrong patient

-
A patient at a hospital in Kenya is "progressing well" after a doctor mistakenly performed brain surgery on him. The neurosurgeon who did the recent procedure and the CEO of the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi were both suspended, according to the Guardian. There was a mix-up between one patient who needed to have a blood clot removed and another who merely needed medication for a swollen head, the newspaper reported. "The hospital deeply regrets this event and has done all it can to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the patient in question," the hospital said in a statement, according to the Guardian. It added that the patient was "in recovery" and "progressing well." Doctors at the hospital came to the defense of the surgeon who was suspended, saying the gaffe took place "because of wrong patient labelling by the ward staff," according to The Star newspaper in Nairobi. The embattled hospital was embroiled in controve...
Read more

Trump visits world leader who once compared him to Hitler

-
Donald Trump made a last-minute trip Wednesday to Mexico in his first visit as the Republican nominee to meet with a world leader -- one who has publicly insulted him and criticized his immigration and border policies. The lightning-speed visit with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto takes place in the frenzied build-up to Trump's speech in Arizona Wednesday night clarifying his murky policy on immigration. Trump's calls for deporting all undocumented workers, labeling many Mexican immigrants "rapists" and "criminals," and plan to build a wall along the border -- that Mexico would pay for -- have earned him withering criticism from Peña Nieto, as well as many independents and moderate Republicans. But they are central pillars of his campaign, which has galvanized his white working class base behind his White House bid. Those most fervently opposed to immigration have pushed back against the rumored "softening" in his stance that he coul...
Read more

Missing Carnival Cruise Ship Passenger Fell Backward Off Rail

-
The woman who went missing Friday from the Carnival Liberty cruise ship, had climbed up on a deck railing and fell backwards into the Gulf of Mexico, the cruise line said today. After Samantha Broberg, 33, was reported missing by her travel companions, a ship-wide search was conducted and the ships camera footage was reviewed, Carnival said. "Based on the video analysis, we can confirm that it appears she climbed up and sat on a deck railing and subsequently fell backwards," Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer De La Cruz said. Carnival Liberty departed from Galveston, Texas, on a four-day Mexico cruise on Thursday and is scheduled to return on Monday morning. Broberg had not been found as of midday Sunday, despite a search by the Coast Guard. The video shows that she fell into the Gulf of Mexico from the 10th deck of the ship at approximately 2 a.m. Friday, but the Coast Guard was not contacted until 5 p.m. Friday, when her disappearance had been confirmed. "Autho...
Read more