Democrats tweet the most, but individual Republicans get more engagement: How social media use differs across the aisle – By Danielle Abril (Fortune) / July 16 2020
As politicians increasingly turn to Twitter and Facebook to speak directly to their supporters, a new study draws a dividing line between how politicians from opposite sides of the aisle are using social media. Democratic members of Congress are more active on social media and get the most engagement as a group—but it’s their Republic counterparts that often get the most retweets, shares, and reactions on an individual level.
In terms of posts by all Congress members, 73% of all Twitter favorites and 66% of retweets went to Democrats. Similarly, they also received 74% of all Facebook reactions and 66% of reshared posts, the study by Pew Research shows. A typical Democratic member of Congress has upwards of 17,000 followers more than a typical Republican member and tweets about 130 times a month, nearly double the amount of their counterparts. But a typical Republican gets nearly 14 more retweets and 29 more favorites on Twitter, as well as 38 more reactions and seven more shares on Facebook posts.
“These findings speak to the ways in which Democratic and Republican lawmakers have wittingly or unwittingly carved out different collective approaches to social media communications,” the report says. “Republican lawmakers tend to be less active posters and have fewer of these highly successful accounts, but their posts tend to receive more audience engagement at the level of individual members.”
Continue to article: https://fortune.com/2020/07/16/republicans-democrats-social-media-twitter-facebook-pew-study/
