Running Head: DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 1

Donald Trumps Use of Twitter and Levels of Satisfaction

Monica Victor
Santa Clara University
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 2

Abstract

This study is setting out to investigate the effect of viewing personalized vs. depersonalized

messages of a high profile celebrity and politician Donald Trump, and level of satisfaction

with him as a person. Twitter has become one of the largest Social Networking Sites, and its

common for politicians and celebrities to reach out to fans through Twitter. Through use of

the @reply tool, celebrities and politicians can talk directly to fans and followers, creating an

illusion of intimacy between the two parties. These personalized tweets sometimes have an

effect on the followers perception of the celebrity or politician. Donald Trump utilizes Twitter

on a daily basis, and he uses the @reply tool to talk to the public. People who view

personalized tweet responses typically experience an increase in their overall evaluation of

that celebrity or politician, so this study will uncover if this is true for Donald Trump.
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 3

24.9 million people follow the United States newly elected inaugurated president,

Donald J. Trump on Twitter (@DonaldJTrump, 2017). That means 24.9 million people see

what he has to say in 140 characters multiple times a day. Twitter is a Social Networking Site

that offers the opportunity to connect through 140-character information bursts, aka tweets, as

well as the chance to share pictures, links, and videos (Pennington, Hall, & Hutchinson,

2016). Twitter is one of the largest Social Networking Sties; averaging 313 million active

users (Twitter, 2017). 21% of all Americans use Twitter (Twitter, 2017). With such a large

following base, as well as news coverage based of his tweets, it is known that the public is

seeing everything Trump tweets.

For my topic, I am interested in discovering the ways that Donald Trump uses Twitter

to interact with his constituents and how it affects his constituents opinions about him. This

study will focus specifically on Trump because his excessive use of Twitter has gained a lot

of attention from the press. This topic interests me because I feel as though Twitter has

become such a huge campaign platform and communication channel for Donald Trump.

Twitter allows for interpersonal communication to take place because politicians can have

conversation by responding to tweets. I think its an interesting topic because social media has

become such a huge part of everyday life, and its one of my main sources for getting my

news and keeping up to date with current events and people.

One reason why Twitter communication is an important topic is because Twitter is an

extremely large social networking site, and theres not much research on how communication

through Twitter is affecting us. Another reason why Twitter communication is an important

topic is because it is becoming a huge part in politicians campaign trail, and again there isnt

a lot of research thats been done to examine if its an affective campaign platform. One
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 4

reason why its important to focus specifically on Donald Trumps use of Twitter is because

out of the other 2016 candidates and Obama combined, Trump used Twitter to engage with

the public the most (Pew Research Center, 2016). The last reason that Twitter communication

is an important topic to study is because Twitter connects everyday people with celebrities

and politicians, and its important to know if that communication is sufficient enough to make

the everyday people feel as though they know the high profile person just because of their

tweets and re tweets.

First, I will discuss what engagement on Twitter is, and how people engage with one

another on Twitter. Then, I will discuss how people are using Twitter for civic engagement.

Then, I will analyze Donald Trumps use of Twitter. Lastly, I will propose a hypothesis that

will be tested to investigate the relationship between personalized and depersonalized tweets

and levels of satisfaction amongst the public relating to Donald Trump. As previously noted,

Twitter is a way for celebrities and everyday people to connect and engage with one another

without face-to-face interaction, therefore, it is important to understand how people engage on

this platform.

Rationale

Engagement on Twitter

In the age of social media, it has become easier for famous or high profile figures to

interact and engage with everyday people and fans. Although there is still no guarantee that

celebrities indeed compose their SNS posts as they claim to do, people nonetheless generally

expect that their messages are coming directly from their mouth without preparation, and thus,

more genuine than what can be expected of their media representation (Levinson, 2011).

Since people usually feel as though they are talking directly to another individual, Twitter is a
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 5

platform for people to connect with celebrities, politicians, or any famous figures. People can

tweet to others that they have never met, allowing instant communication all across the

world. In a recent study, Marwick and Boyd discovered that Twitter can create an emotional

connection for fans with celebrities, because the tweets seem to come from that person rather

than being reported about that celebrity through a news source (Marwick & boyd, 2011).

People have begun to use Twitter as a way of political and civic engagement (Pew

Research Center, 2012). 20% of social media users have used tools to follow elected officials

(2012). 35% of registered voters who use social media to follow a political candidate say a

major reason is that it makes them feel more personally connected to a politician (2012).

More specifically, young adults are more likely than any other age group to use the internet

for political purposes, more than 25% of people aged 18-29 use Twitter to follow political

officials (2012).

Twitter has a significant effect of parasocial interaction; it amplifies the illusion of

intimacy with another user when they have never personally met (Lee & Jang, 2013).

Through the use of the @reply tool on Twitter, users can begin a conversation with or

reference anyone else on Twitter, including celebrities and politicians. It doesnt matter

whether the intended target follows the user or not, the target can still see and respond to this

message. Since the @reply tool on Twitter can be used by anyone to talk to anyone, it has

created an authentic space for personal interaction (Marwick & Boyd, 2011). This allows

celebrities and politicians to answer questions, react to comments, and even start

conversations with their fans. We know these conversations are taking place over Twitter but,

there is not much research on how engaging through the @reply option is making users feel.
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 6

How does engagement on Twitter make users feel?

As noted above, this study will focus on how engagement on Twitter makes a user

feel. There are a lot of ways to engage with someone on twitter, such as liking a tweet, re

tweeting a tweet, and replying to someones tweet. For the purpose of this study, I will be

focusing on how using the @reply tool effects a persons level of satisfaction. Past research

has somewhat explored the effects of personalized vs. depersonalized tweets. It has been

shown that personalized messages significantly enhanced message recognition and recall, as

well as heightened perceived presence of and imagined intimacy with the candidate whos

fake Twitter feed the sample was viewing (Lee & Oh, 2012). Another study showed that

people who viewed a Politician using Twitter to engage in conversation by responding to

someone elses tweet lead to a more positive overall evaluation of the candidate (Utz, 2009).

Another study also found that personalized tweet responses lead to stronger agreement with a

candidate when that person already has favorable prior attitudes (Lee & Shin, 2014). This

information can be used to infer that an individuals satisfaction with a political figure will

also be effect by personalized tweets. A users level of satisfaction with another person can be

defined as an individuals level of approval based on a 0 to 100 level, (Houston,

Hawthorne, Spialek, Greenwood, and Mckinney, 2013). It has been shown that there is a

positive correlation with politicians use of Twitter to directly engage with the public, but

Donald Trump has never been the center of focus in a study.

Donald Trumps Use of Twitter

There is no doubt that Donald Trump likes to tweet. Twitter counter, a verified Twitter

statistics calculator, states that on an average, Donald Trump tweets 11 times per day (Pew

Research Center, 2016). Also reports that he has a 78% audience attentiveness score, which
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 7

is calculating from being tracked on 64,117 Twitter lists and normalized to his 24.9 million

followers (2017). This means that 78% of his followers are paying attention to what he has to

say. During the 2016 presidential campaign, 23% of Trumps tweets were made up of re

tweets, which he almost always added a response at the end of the post, as a way to directly

communicate with his potential voters (Pew Research Center, 2015). About eight-in-ten of

these people were members of the general public (2015). Therefore, it can be inferred that

Trump uses Twitter as a way of communication with the public. Though many studies show a

correlation between political engagement through personalized tweets and an increase in

constituents satisfaction with that political, there is no research on a specific high profile

celebrity or politician like Donald Trump. Using the findings from previous literature and

applying them to the high profile celebrity and politician Donald Trump, I have predicted the

following:

H1: Those who view personalized tweet responses from Donald Trump will

experience an increase in level of satisfaction with him as a person.

Method

The appropriate method to test the hypothesis would be a survey and an experiment. These

are the appropriate methods for a few reasons. This study is modeled after Lee & Ohs (2012)

study, and in their study they conducted a survey and then an experiment. This study will be

conducted very similarly, using a pretest/posttest as well as an experiment. It qualifies as an

experiment because I have an experimental group (personalized tweets) and a control group

(depersonalized tweets), I am manipulating the experiment, and the experiment part of this

study will include random assignment on the participants to the groups. First, participants will

take a survey that will measure their level of satisfaction with Donald Trump prior to reading
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 8

his Twitter feed. After they take the survey, half the group will view a mock Donald Trump

feed that contains personalized tweets and the other half will view a mock Donald Trump feed

that contains depersonalized tweets. After viewing the feed, participants will fill out the same

survey to assess their level of satisfaction with Donald Trump.

Participants and Sampling

This sample will include 217 participants. This number has been calculated using the Pew

Research Centers estimate that out of a sample of 1,520 people, 24% of the sample uses

Twitter. Out of that 24%, 36% (272 people) are aged 18-29 (Pew Research Center, 2016). So,

the population is 272 and a sample size calculator has predicted that a sample size of 217

participants is needed. College students who identify as independents and actively use Twitter

will be recruited by sending out tweets about the study and trying to encourage individuals

who use Twitter to participate. Facebook can also be used as a way to recruit college age

individuals by posting statuses about the study and asking for volunteers.

Procedures

This study will take place online. The participants that were pulled from Twitter and

Facebook will be sent and required to fill out a pretest and posttest survey that measures their

opinions about Donald Trump. The pretest will measure their level of satisfaction with

Donald Trump as a person before they view personalized or depersonalized tweets. An online

service, GraphPad, will randomly assign participants to the two conditions: personalized or

depersonalized tweets. Personalized Donald Trump Twitter feeds will include 7 tweets that he

has previously tweeted, and then 3 tweets where he specifically responds to a user in a

positive way (rather than arguing with them). These tweets will consist of thanking someone

for their support, answering a policy question, and thanking a Fox News reporter for
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 9

something the reporter said about him on Fox and Friends. Depersonalized Donald Trump

Twitter feeds will include 10 tweets that he has previously tweeted that do not include any

personalization at all. After viewing the mock Twitter feed of either personalized or

depersonalized tweets, the participants will be required to fill out the same survey they filled

out in the beginning, except this one will not include the demographics section because it is

not necessary. The point of filling out the survey again would be to measure if viewing either

personalized or depersonalized tweets has an effect on level of satisfaction with him as a

person.

Operationalization

The survey that will be administered in the beginning of the study and to end the study will

first ask for demographic information such as age, gender, ethnicity, and where (if) the

student attends college. These questions are asked first to organize the data but also to keep

track of other characteristics that can affect a participants view of Donald Trump. For

example, a female many feel stronger about Trump because of sexiest comments he has made

in the past. The next section is going to use a likert scale to measure the participants level of

satisfaction with Donald Trump both before and after reading tweets. The scale is taken from

Lee & Ohs (2012). Participants will be asked to rank how they feel about Donald Trump in

terms of him being pleasant, likeable, friendly, incompetent, knowledgeable, confident, moral,

trustworthy and honest.

Analysis Plan

This study will use a correlation test to analyze the data collected. A correlation is the correct

test to run because the Independent Variable (Personalized tweet responses) is ratio level and

the Dependent Variable (Level of satisfaction with Donald Trump as a person) is interval. A
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 10

ratio level IV and interval level DV calls for a correlation test. This study also seeks to

discover the relationship between personalized tweets and a persons level of satisfaction so it

make sense to run a correlation test based on the purpose of the study.

Ethics

There are not any ethical questions that come up in this study. I think that showing someone

personalized tweets is invasive of their human rights or puts them at risk of harming their

physical, social, or mental well being. Something that might come up is that participants in

the sample might want to remain anonymous, which is completely fine for the purpose of this

study. This study would need an IRB exempt review because it is using an experiment with

participates.

Limitations

This study does have some limitations. One limitation that needs to be addressed is the fact

that when people have opinions about a person, its nearly impossible to change those

opinions about a person, and its even harder to get someone to admit they have changed his

or her mind. This being said, regardless of whether or not personalized tweets really could

change someones opinion about Donald Trump, they might refuse to answer truthfully on the

survey. This can skew the results of the study. Another limitation is that the data collected

from this study cant be generalized to all politicians or celebrities because the response was

measuring level of satisfaction with just Donald Trump as a person. Further studies could try

to create a way for the data to be applicable to the general population.

Conclusion

The purpose of this study was to determine if Donald Trumps personalized tweet

responses has an effect on a Twitter users level of satisfaction with Donald Trump as a
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 11

person. The correlation test should provide insight into how personalized tweets can help

politicians and high profile celebrities engage with and improve relationships with the public.

If the hypotheses are accepted, the results may be potentially helpful to President Trump in

increasing his approval rating as a person.

DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 12

References

Anderson, M. (2015, May 19). More Americans are using social media to connect with
politicians. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2015/05/19/more-americans-are-using-social-media-to-connect-with-politicians/

Company | About. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2017, from

https://about.twitter.com/company

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Twitter Stats. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2017,
from http://twittercounter.com/realDonaldDrumpf

Duggan, M., Ellison, N. B., Lampe, C., Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2015). Social media
update 2014. Pew Research Internet Project. Retrieved from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/social-mediaupdate-2014

Houston, J. B., Hawthorne, J., Spialek, M. L., Greenwood, M., & McKinney, M. S. (2013).
TWEETING DURING PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: EFFECT ON CANDIDATE
EVALUATIONS AND DEBATE ATTITUDES. Argumentation & Advocacy, 49(4),
301-311.

Lee, E., & Jang, J. (2013). Not So Imaginary Interpersonal Contact With Public Figures on
Social Network Sites. Communication Research,40(1), 27-51.
doi:10.1177/0093650211431579

Lee, E., & Oh, S. Y. (2012). To Personalize or Depersonalize? When and How Politicians'
Personalized Tweets Affect the Publics Reactions. Journal Of Communication, 62(6),
932-949. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01681.x

Lee, E., & Shin, S. Y. (2014). When the Medium Is the Message. Communication
Research,41(8), 1088-1110. doi:10.1177/0093650212466407

Levinson, P. (2011). The long story about the short medium: Twitter as a communication
medium in historical, present, and future context. Journal of Communication
Research, 48, 7-28. Retrieved from http:// paullevinson.blogspot.com/2011/03/long-
story-about-short-medium-twitter.html

Marwick, A. E. & boyd, d. (2011). To see and be seen: Celebrity practice on Twitter.
Convergence, 17, 139-158. doi: 10.1177/1354856510394539

Pew Research Center, Candidates differ in their use of social media to connect with the
public. (2016, July 18). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from
http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/18/candidates-differ- in-their-use-of-social-
media-to-connect-with-the-public/
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 13

Utz, S. (2009), The (Potential) Benefits of Campaigning via Social Network Sites. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 14: 221243. doi:10.1111/j.1083-
6101.2009.01438.x
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 14

Appendix

Survey Instrument

Biological Sex (circle): Male Female Other Decline to Answer

Age: ________________

Ethnicity (circle): White African American Latino/a Asian American

Other:________________________________

College: _________________________________________________________________

Evaluation of Donald Trump as a Person

Please respond to each of the following questions by CIRCLING the number that best

expresses your opinion of Donald Trump as a person.

Unpleasant Pleasant

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Unlikable Likable

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Unfriendly Friendly

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Incompetent Competent

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Unknowledgeable Knowledgeable

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Unconfident Confident

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 15

Immoral Moral

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Untrustworthy Trustworthy

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Dishonest Honest

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 16

Mock Donald Trump Twitter Feed Example

The mock Donald Trump Twitter feed would look take the set up of his Twitter page and

adapt it depending on the condition, as described in the procedures section.

DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 17

References

Anderson, M. (2015, May 19). More Americans are using social media to connect with
politicians. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2015/05/19/more-americans-are-using-social-media-to-connect-with-politicians/

Company | About. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2017, from

https://about.twitter.com/company

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Twitter Stats. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2017,
from http://twittercounter.com/realDonaldDrumpf

Duggan, M., Ellison, N. B., Lampe, C., Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2015). Social media
update 2014. Pew Research Internet Project. Retrieved from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/social-mediaupdate-2014

Houston, J. B., Hawthorne, J., Spialek, M. L., Greenwood, M., & McKinney, M. S. (2013).
TWEETING DURING PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: EFFECT ON CANDIDATE
EVALUATIONS AND DEBATE ATTITUDES. Argumentation & Advocacy, 49(4),
301-311.

Lee, E., & Jang, J. (2013). Not So Imaginary Interpersonal Contact With Public Figures on
Social Network Sites. Communication Research,40(1), 27-51.
doi:10.1177/0093650211431579

Lee, E., & Oh, S. Y. (2012). To Personalize or Depersonalize? When and How Politicians'
Personalized Tweets Affect the Publics Reactions. Journal Of Communication, 62(6),
932-949. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01681.x

Lee, E., & Shin, S. Y. (2014). When the Medium Is the Message. Communication
Research,41(8), 1088-1110. doi:10.1177/0093650212466407

Levinson, P. (2011). The long story about the short medium: Twitter as a communication
medium in historical, present, and future context. Journal of Communication
Research, 48, 7-28. Retrieved from http:// paullevinson.blogspot.com/2011/03/long-
story-about-short-medium-twitter.html

Marwick, A. E. & boyd, d. (2011). To see and be seen: Celebrity practice on Twitter.
Convergence, 17, 139-158. doi: 10.1177/1354856510394539

Pew Research Center, Candidates differ in their use of social media to connect with the
public. (2016, July 18). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from
http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/18/candidates-differ- in-their-use-of-social-
media-to-connect-with-the-public/
DONALD TRUMP AND TWITTER 18

Utz, S. (2009), The (Potential) Benefits of Campaigning via Social Network Sites. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 14: 221243. doi:10.1111/j.1083-
6101.2009.01438.x