Last week our country made a decision that divided its citizens more than anything in recent history. Donald Trump was elected president, despite having no civil or military service and promoting a campaign of hate. I am still unsure of how to react to the decision. I did not blog last week because of it. This week I’m ready to begin to examine one aspect of this bizarre election: a president-elect with a fully-developed social media presence.
Job seekers are often told that potential employers are lurking on social media to scope out candidates to make sure they are the right fit for the company. A Career Builder survey showed as many as “60 percent of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates.” Job applicants are encouraged to keep profiles private and free of any questionable posts.
This was not the case with the highest-profile
job opening in the country.
Many Americans flocked to Trump’s following not despite his posts, but because of them. More than half (54 percent) of the general public believes that it matters because “senior leaders who are transparent on social media are more trustworthy.” The majority of Americans want to see business leaders have a presence on social media, and 15 percent would like to see personal stories and anecdotes in posts.
The Trump campaign delivered, and also gave followers what they wanted “to feel that they matter” and that they could express that feeling, explains Thomas White, Co-founder and CEO of C-Suite Network. Trump didn’t just use social media as a tool in his campaign; he turned the campaign into a social media saga, fit for reality TV. Best-selling author Van Jones wrote, “Trump is not breaking the rules. He is playing by a new set of rules.”
The New @POTUS
Unlike a traditional hiring process, there’s no three-month probation period during which the American people can change our minds about hiring Donald Trump because of posts we discover on his Twitter feed.
The tweets were already there and we hired him anyway.
In preparation for the new hire to take office in January, the current administration, staff, and even White House furnishings are being transitioned out. Since Obama was the first president to use social media, it is also the first time official White House handles need to change as well.
As part of a digital transition strategy, Trump (and team) will receive access to the @POTUS handle with no tweets on the timeline. All the old posts will be removed and archived by the National Archives and Records Administration. Currently, @POTUS has 11.9 million followers on Twitter and @realDonaldTrump has 15.2 million followers. During an interview with 60 Minutes, Trump both acknowledged the power of a large social media following and declared that he might not use social media once he’s in office.
As Trumps’ new bosses, what should our expectations be of his social media postings? How should he handle his personal account during his time as president?
Author’s note: I believe in the political process and that most people are inherently good. As a communicator, I know that words (spoken and written) have great power, and those who are in positions of leadership have a responsibility to know their audiences and use their power wisely and for the greater good.
Social Chrysalis 
November 17, 2016 at 4:31 am
Very engaging post, Amanda. I have never seen such an emotionally volatile environment. Though I do wonder would things be different if it wasn’t Donald Trump ? I think we wouldn’t have seen this much of uproar if it was another candidate from the winning party. But throughout Trump’s campaign I have told my co-workers and friends, that he is a PR nightmare – and this is completely from a professional point of view and not personal. But guess the Crisis Communication part wasn’t needed at all!
Social media played such a huge role in this elections, and unfortunately more to spread a divisive society – to a point that I didn’t even get spared in LinkedIn. As it is said with power comes great responsibility, and I am hoping that our new President-elect will use the power judiciously in social media as well as with the administration.
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November 19, 2016 at 2:48 am
As someone who may search for a job in the feature, I am extremely cautious on what and how I post on social media, I never write anything negative that could come back to haunt me in the years to come. Yet, America elected Donald Trump as president of the United States. What kind of lesson and precedent has that set for recent college graduates? they are told over and over to clean up their social media so it does not negatively affect their job search.
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November 20, 2016 at 5:36 am
The President-Elect has certainly embraced twitter more than any other politician in the nation’s history. But the way I see this is it a good thing or a bad thing. To argue the pro’s, I think that being able to communicate directly with the constituents of the nation is a big positive for Presidents in a digital age, but I think there is just a big lapse of judgement on how to use it. Some of the things that Donald Trump has tweeted since winning the election have frankly been out of line for a person who is supposed to be leading the country. Let’s just hope his staff can reel him in over the next few months or I feel he made have some serious troubles ahead.
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November 21, 2016 at 2:32 am
My only hope is that they do not allow him to tweet some of the things that he is now when he’s on the POTUS handle. I find some of them quite controversial. For example, here is one from this weekend:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 13h13 hours ago
I watched parts of @nbcsnl Saturday Night Live last night. It is a totally one-sided, biased show – nothing funny at all. Equal time for us?
—–
I do not think it’s that great to be tweeting out stuff like that when you are able to get into office. SNL mocks the news, it is what they do. Calling them out and saying they are bias does nothing.
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November 22, 2016 at 2:32 am
Amanda,
The President-Elect sure has shared some obscene remarks on his Twitter. One thing I believe I read was he said step back from Twitter, but not until he moves into the White House. Which, I think at that point he’d really have no time for the platform. Also, a lot of his tweets are contradictory, but I take that as his opinions have changed since he decided he wanted to play President.
You did make a good point though when you said the majority of Americans want to see business leaders have a presence on social media, and 15 percent would like to see personal stories and anecdotes in posts. So I guess he’s keeping up with the trend, and it’s working for him.
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November 22, 2016 at 5:22 pm
Amanda, I admire your willingness to take on a hot button topic for your blog post, as pointing out social media’s role in this election is an important discussion to be had. I have been focusing on his feed’s influence on others, but never really considered the flip side of the job hiring process and social media professionalism. It really is interesting to look at the unprofessional-ism and content of his feed and compare it to how it would’ve been judged for another person and job. Is this a sheer matter of money and power creating a different set of rules?
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November 27, 2016 at 4:30 pm
Great topic,
I too have noticed how Trump utilized social media as his primary platform of communication with his supporters. Whether you support him as the next POTUS or not, the manner in which he was elected is definitely game changing. This is the first time (that I can remember) a presidential candidate completely turning his or her back on the mainstream media and STILL stimulating more newsworthy action than any of their competition. I am no poly sci expert, but I have sometimes wondered if some of the outlandish remarks that were made by Trump, were strategically placed a long the campaign trail at specific times to generate more media attention in an effort to then turn the people’s attention to his social media pages to hear how he explained what he said from his own mouth.
Color me crazy, but I wouldn’t doubt it! Crazier things have happened, right?
#JawingWithJordan
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