Tweets and Trends: How Social Media is Shaping the Future of Politics

By: Anthony Maiorca

Published on Sept 13, 2024

As social media increasingly permeates our culture, many aspects of our lives have moved into the digital world. The past year has highlighted the importance of using social media in political campaigns, becoming the new norm instead of relying solely on traditional news platforms. According to Tufts, before the 2024 presidential election, there will be approximately 8 million new eligible voters. With over 25% of the social media audience being Gen Z, campaigning this way seems like the smart route. TikTok seems to be the main app that is being utilized for presidential campaigns as many new accounts are being created with either Trump's or Kamala's name. Many of these accounts being created aren't even from either nominee's campaigning team which points to an evolution from lawn signs to social media accounts. 

In the past, it was normal for Democrat and Republican presidential nominees to use different campaigning strategies that more aligned with their voters. However, with the heightened use of social media, we are beginning to see similar patterns in campaigning techniques. An easy way to get more interactions on social media is by following trends, which is exactly what both presidential nominees have started to do. For example, both Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’s TikTok accounts have posted the same videos using trending audios such as the Zara Laurson song “Symphony”. This is an interesting new form of campaigning from presidential nominees as they are both actively targeting the same audience, the youth. 

The public's reaction to these new social media accounts have been divided such as the country being divided on who they believe should be President. On TikTok accounts featuring Kamala, the majority of comments will be praising Harris for her videos reaching the younger audience. While on Trump's TikTok account, the majority of comments will be praising how Trump was able to reach the younger audience. In the end, it raises the question of whether or not social media campaigning is adding anything of importance to Trump or Kamala. It appears that each of their accounts has become an echo chamber of their supporters. 

Official TikTok logo

Objectively, Harris’s online camping has worked more in her favor to gain the younger audience's attention. Gen Z labeled Harris as a “brat”, a popular album released early this summer. Showing Harris’s campaigning online was well receipted but younger audiences. However, in recent weeks, Trump’s social media campaign decided to take another route. Instead of relying on trends that change weekly, Trump has started working with influencers whose audience consists mostly of younger men. This new strategy has pointed to the fact that Trump has found his niche online as more of these types of influencers have made more videos talking about Trump and there is a rise of praise coming from that specific audience. 

Overall, the rise in political campaigning via social media has become a back-and-forth fight between the nominees. It looks like this campaigning strategy involves having the last ‘punch’ before the actual primary elections. It will be interesting to see if social media will play a large role in the outcome of the election and if this is a permanent strategy we will see in future elections.