President Donald trump's activity on Twitter has been causing an uproar for months. The President's tweets have been accused of being "prepared" by his staff, while numerous tweets have been deemed inaccurate. As a result, engagement with the President's tweets has dropped significantly. Trump had approximately 206,000 engagements for the average tweet since the inauguration last January. At this time, the average tweet generates only about 71,000 engagements. During President Trump's first 100 days in office, his engagement on Twitter has dropped a total of 66 percent.
Trump's Twitter remarks on many controversial issues has resulted in the loss of engagement on his Twitter account.
Prepared tweets
A study from digital agency Huge, Inc. discovered an increase in "prepared" tweets from the President's staff. At the start of the presidency, prepared tweets were estimated only at 15 percent. Currently, the prepared tweets account for approximately 27 percent of Trump's output. Trump's earlier "agitated" tweets contained a harsh tone, excessive capitalization and exclamation marks. The tweets that are allegedly prepared tweets incorporate social media conventions such as emojis and hashtags. These prepared or manufactured tweets have undermined the authenticity of Trump's tweets and caused engagement to go down.
Inaccurate tweets
President Trump has been accused of posting tweets that are blatantly inaccurate. The Washington Post has a semi-weekly feature detailing President Trump's inaccurate tweets. Here are three examples:
- Criticizing Democrats for not approving his cabinet,
- Accusing former President Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower during the presidential campaign
- Declaring Arnold Schwarzenegger's termination from "The Apprentice"
In each instance, fact-checkers and/or persons mentioned in the tweets have responded to challenge and dispute the facts contained in these alleged inaccurate tweets.
Senator Marco Rubio tweeted votes were taken and cabinet nominations were confirmed one day before Trump's tweet regarding the cabinet. There has been no evidence found of wiretapping at Trump Tower.
Arnold Schwarzenegger responded to Trump via Twitter directly:
You should think about hiring a new joke writer and a fact checker. https://t.co/SvAjuPdHfa
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) March 4, 2017
Twitter has become such a tool for President Trump.
It has allowed the President to engage with Americans like no other medium has before. Social media should not be used as a device to mislead the American public, but as a device to keep us all informed.
