The Frequency of Posting and Tone in Donald Trump's Tweets, influenced the Reactions of His Followers

Keller, T. R., & Kleinen-von Königslöw, K. (2018). Followers, spread the message! Predicting the success of Swiss politicians on Facebook and Twitter. Social Media + Society, 4(1), 1-11. doi:10.1177/2056305118765733

In this article, Keller and Kleinen-von Königslöw focus on the factors that enhance the success of political leaders on social media platforms in terms of followership and reactions. Even though the authors seem to target Swiss politicians as their primary audience, their findings enhance the understanding of political leaders’ differing levels of success on social media, especially on Facebook and Twitter. The authors argue that the social power of leaders on digital platforms depends mainly on their followership. Leaders who command massive following on Facebook and Twitter often enjoy greater visibility of their posts and subsequent reactions from their supporters and detractors as opposed to those leaders with a smaller number of followers. Additionally, the authors note that a leader’s behavior in the social media platforms, such as frequency of posting and tone, influences the reactions of their followers. For instance, most of Donald Trump’s tweets are often retweeted and shared by his supporters because his tone may be aligned with the sentiments of his followers.  

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