Clinton & Bush duke it out on Twitter, but Sanders is social media king

[Divernan]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/11/bernie-sanders-social-media-popularity-facebook-twitter?CMP=fb_us
(excerpts)

With a bigger – and vastly more engaged – Facebook fan base, the 73-year-old Vermont senator looks a lot like young Americans’ candidate of choice.

Meanwhile, Sanders excels beyond the realm of likes and followers. The self-stated democratic socialist consistently has the highest level engagement on his individual Facebook posts, meaning he has people liking his messages, sharing his thoughts, commenting on his plans.

Sanders’ popularity on the internet is a further example of his success with young people – a key demographic given the increasing voter turnout among 18-to-29-year-olds in recent years.

Around 50% of young people voted in 2012. In the 1990s the youth turnout was regularly less than 40%, according to Politico. A study by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that the youth voting bloc made the difference in four swing states – Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida – counting for 80 electoral college votes.

[Divernan]

1. More from UK Guardian OP link:

Though young people #FeelTheBern online, Sanders’ popularity extends far beyond social media. In Bushwick, the beating heart of New York City hipsterdom, Sanders watch parties have been packed out with beards and Vans and tattoos. In Portland, a city with a similar vibe but more rain, it’s a similar story.

You can buy T-shirts with the message “Bernie is Bae”. There are rappers coming out in support of the Sanders campaign. In July supporters nationwide held over 3,000 viewing parties to watch a live Sanders webcast.

In a final indicator of Sanders’ unique appeal, around five weeks ago the hashtag #babesforbernie began to appear on Instagram. Women, mostly young women, were using it to tag their own photos. They tagged themselves with signs, they tagged themselves with T-shirts, they even tagged themselves with Sanders.

It’s not a definitive indicator, but it’s another sign that Sanders is the social media, young people’s candidate of choice. There is, after all, no #babesforbush.

With additional reporting by Jessica Lee.
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Bernie Sanders US elections 2016 Twitter Facebook Hillary Clinton

[beam me up scottie]

2. K & R #babesforbernie!

In a final indicator of Sanders’ unique appeal, around five weeks ago the hashtag #babesforbernie began to appear on Instagram. Women, mostly young women, were using it to tag their own photos. They tagged themselves with signs, they tagged themselves with T-shirts, they even tagged themselves with Sanders.

I remember reading on DU that he only appealed to old white men who lean libertarian.

Whoopsie!

I guess the Guardian (I'm sure they'll be accused of publishing a "hit piece" against Hillary for this) didn't get the memo from Clinton's camp.


And this babe has been for Bernie for years.

[beam me up scottie]

3. ^

[djean111]

4. TwitterAudit concludes that over half of Hillary's twitter followers are bogus.

Reminds me of Mittens.

The members of the "Youth Bloc" that I know personally are quite clear that they are only paying attention this time because of Bernie's message. And they laugh at the idea that voting for a member of the group that they consider does not care about them and only pays attention to them at election time is gonna make things any better. A Dem has been in charge for the last eight years. If the explanation is the Congress is to blame, then don't try and hold up same old same old as any different.

They are enthusiastic about Bernie's difference, not a "D" on a jersey. Those days may be over, new paradigm may be coming.

[winter is coming]

5. Over half? Wow. Got a link for that?

I'll readily admit ignorance as to what Twitter Audit is and how it works.

[djean111]

6. Sure! And if you google around, you can find their methods -

https://www.twitteraudit.com/hillaryclinton

About TwitterAudit

Each audit takes a random sample of 5000 Twitter followers for a user and calculates a score for each follower. This score is based on number of tweets, date of the last tweet, and ratio of followers to friends. We use these scores to determine whether any given user is real or fake. Of course, this scoring method is not perfect but it is a good way to tell if someone with lots of followers is likely to have increased their follower count by inorganic, fraudulent, or dishonest means.

TwitterAudit is not affiliated with Twitter in any way.

One of the British newspapers had a detailed explanation of how these findings are arrived at. Kind of more detailed than I thought, really.