By Molly Merson News and Features Editor The 2016 presidential election was one of the most talked about elections in several decades. The amount of social media buzz involving this election raised many eyebrows and questions among the people. The internet traffic regarding the election could have swayed the opinions of voters at the polls. According to CNN Technology, more than 115 million people were talking or posting about the election on Facebook. This resulted in over 716 million likes, posts, comments, or shares related to the election.
It was believed that the 2012 election set the bar for the most social media buzz on Election Day. However, only 31 million messages were sent. That number seems moderate compared to the 115 million messages sent regarding this past election. Based on how highly involved social media was in the 2016 election, it could be possible that the amount of supporters each candidate had could’ve correlated to the amount of votes they received. On Twitter, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton rack in more followers than the bands Maroon 5 and The Black Eyed Peas combined. With Donald Trump at 16 million Twitter followers and Hillary Clinton at 11 million, it’s possible to view these statistics as predictions for who would have won the presidency. Then again, not all Twitter users are eligible to vote. This raises the question of how many followers of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are of age. “I think most Twitter users who follow presidential candidates are able to vote,” senior Taylor Smith said. “Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t follow them.” The numbers may not correlate to the election’s outcome, but then again, they could. Social media has had both positive and negative impacts on politics. Nevertheless, the amount of social media buzz regarding the 2016 election is something to remember.
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