Twitter and the 2016 Presidential Debates
I have watched the last two presidential debates via my Twitter account. How? Like this:
I get into my pj’s, sit on my bed, put a pillow on my lap, top the pillow with a baking tray, and then I set my computer on the tray. I sign into my Twitter account and, lo, partnered with Bloomberg media, Twitter streams the debate! They also do pre-debate and post-debate coverage.
The bonus? My finger is on the pulse of the American populace, well the Tweeting populace anyway. In real-time, I can see the myriad tweets of an array of viewers. And every 30 minutes or so, Twitter shows on the screen the top three tweeted about topics, like so: 1. Economics 2. Health Care 3. Immigration
Curiously, and to exemplify the power of social media, after the last debate, while the Bloomberg announcers were still discussing the fallout of Trump’s “throwing of his running mate under the bus,” Pence had already tweeted his support of the presidential candidate and essentially gave Trump a gold star for his performance that evening. His tweet sat dead center on my screen.
By watching the debate through Twitter, I was ahead of the knowledge curve of the political announcers at Bloomberg because I could see Pence’s tweeted reaction to the debate before the announcers were informed of it.
I found this to be a remarkable example of the power of social media, tweeting in particular.
My trust in traditional media news sources (television, newspapers, radio) diminished a long time ago. During the past two debates, as I’ve watched through Twitter/Bloomberg, I feel more empowered than I ever have in past election debate coverage for the simple reason that I can see the tweeted thoughts of not just the general population of this country, but of key candidates.
It’s a new ballgame in media coverage.
Sign in to your Twitter account and stream the debate on Wednesday, October 19.
PS Nothing in this post is to be construed as me supporting Donald Trump. I do not support Donald Trump, to put it emphatically.
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