How the President's Use of Twitter Impacts Members of the U.S. Senate

• In Event: One Vision: Elite Communication Across Platforms

Abstract

Executive branch communication has taken on new forms since the advent of social media, and recent presidents have increasingly begun moving online to share their platform directly with the American people. Traditional methods of communication such as press conferences and televised addresses are decreasing, opening the door for new media to revolutionize the way presidents communicate. President Trump is the first to use Twitter prolifically in a personal way; and his actions may have begun to reshape expectations for how presidents should communicate.

Given the president’s immense influence over agenda-setting, this change may directly and indirectly affect public communication in other branches. This study examines the relationship between the president’s use of Twitter and the response it evokes from Members of Congress. Specifically, I conduct content analysis on the president’s tweets regarding certain issues to determine whether that mode of communication is capable of driving and/or influencing the ensuing conversation online with Members of Congress. Results will include data from the president’s tweets within a certain time period and consequent tweets from members of the U.S. Senate. By examining the response (or lack thereof) from Senators provoked by the president’s tweets, this study gives an indication of how influential the president’s communication is when delivered online. I suspect that the president’s tweets will serve as a conversation-shaper among his congressional colleagues, which will have concurrent effects on the public discourse as a whole.

Author

• Bethany Bowra, Florida International University