Re-Tweeting the Right: A Comparison of the Role of Social Media in the Right-Wing Movements and Political Narratives in the Campaigns of Donald Trump and Javier Milei
Session Title
Social Media, Online Spaces and Literature
Faculty Mentor
Jennifer Leigh Disney, Ph.D.| Mike Sickels, Ph.D.
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Political Science
Abstract
Over the past two decades, social media has become an important tool for organizing and promoting emerging social movements and political activism across the globe. Social Media platforms are credited with the wide-ranging success of many 21st century social movements, including the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party, Me Too, the Men's Rights Movement, and Black Lives Matter. In addition, scholars of social media and political activism focus on the capacity for social media to organize, consolidate, and promote the agenda of social movements across geographic space, facilitate communication and direct actions, garner public support and participation, and create collective identity. In recent years, social media has been particularly effective in its use in the political activism of social movements of the right. In response, major political candidates and their campaigns have begun using social media to generate interest and promote their ideology. In this research project, we conducted a comparative analysis of the top 500-retweeted tweets of two candidates during a six-month period leading up to their runs for public office: Donald J. Trump in the United States (May 8-November 8, 2016) and Javier Milei in Argentina (May 14-November 14, 2021). Our research uses an international comparative framework to examine the role of social media in generating political support during the campaigns of Trump and Milei, and shaping how these two candidates used Twitter to produce meaningful accounts of their right-wing movements, construct populist narratives, and shape the meaning-making practices of their followers
Previously Presented/Performed?
Movement(s) in a Dynamic World: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Conference, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC, February, 2023 | Winthrop University Showcase of Winthrop University Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors, Rock Hill, SC, April 2023
Type of Presentation
Oral presentation
Grant Support?
Supported by an Interdisciplinary Humanities and Social Sciences Grant from Winthrop University
Start Date
15-4-2023 12:00 PM
Re-Tweeting the Right: A Comparison of the Role of Social Media in the Right-Wing Movements and Political Narratives in the Campaigns of Donald Trump and Javier Milei
Over the past two decades, social media has become an important tool for organizing and promoting emerging social movements and political activism across the globe. Social Media platforms are credited with the wide-ranging success of many 21st century social movements, including the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party, Me Too, the Men's Rights Movement, and Black Lives Matter. In addition, scholars of social media and political activism focus on the capacity for social media to organize, consolidate, and promote the agenda of social movements across geographic space, facilitate communication and direct actions, garner public support and participation, and create collective identity. In recent years, social media has been particularly effective in its use in the political activism of social movements of the right. In response, major political candidates and their campaigns have begun using social media to generate interest and promote their ideology. In this research project, we conducted a comparative analysis of the top 500-retweeted tweets of two candidates during a six-month period leading up to their runs for public office: Donald J. Trump in the United States (May 8-November 8, 2016) and Javier Milei in Argentina (May 14-November 14, 2021). Our research uses an international comparative framework to examine the role of social media in generating political support during the campaigns of Trump and Milei, and shaping how these two candidates used Twitter to produce meaningful accounts of their right-wing movements, construct populist narratives, and shape the meaning-making practices of their followers
