Content from the general public and news media comprises the bulk of what Donald Trump shares on social media in May, according to research released on Monday, but is entirely shut out by Hillary Clinton.
Seventy-eight percent of the retweets on Trump’s account during the study period were comments made by members of the public, according to the study conducted by the Pew Research Center. That compared to none from Clinton’s account. Instead, Clinton retweeted her own campaign account 80 percent of the time. Trump did not do so at all.
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The candidates displayed a consistent trend when it came to sharing content from the media. Pew’s evaluation of the Facebook accounts maintained by the candidates found that 78 percent of Trump’s posts contained links to stories in the media, next to just 15 percent of Clinton’s posts.
Researchers noted that the candidates’ campaign websites excluded outside content, but that Trump was unique in his willingness to share citizen content on social media. “On websites, citizen content is minimized or excluded altogether; in social media, Trump stands out for highlighting posts by members of the public,” they wrote. “Trump’s focus on the public also stands apart from 2012, when only 3% of Obama’s tweets during the period studied and none of Romney’s retweeted members of the general public.”
Pew conducted the study by analyzing data for 389 Facebook posts and 714 tweets published by the candidates between May 11-31.
