Nearly everyone on Planet Earth with a smartphone or computer access knows by now that Trump is a Twitter Master and reigning King of the Social Media Universe. He brags, has bragged, and will continue brag about the veritable legions of his dedicated followers.
They formed the solid, free media foundation that launched his campaign and kept it afloat through the hard times in August, September, and October last year when the future looked dim for all but the most ardent fans.
The essence of Authentic Trump versus the stale, stilted Managed Trump is only fully appreciated when Trump.45’s Twit style is on. He has established a new political normal, a Presidential Communications Proxy outside of main stream media (MSM), news networks, newspapers and print journalists who otherwise interfere with the undiluted Trumpian messages and self-congratulations.
He has shown that the naysayers about his free media strategy were wrong, dead wrong. He can gin up billions in free national attention simply by being outrageous and controversial, no matter how scant the fact-based content might be. One advisor, the redoubtable Kellyanne, has even christened the effort as reliance on Alternate Facts, as if that were an acceptably healthy and nourishing substitute for reality.
As a World expert in FAKE NEWS original programming content, Trump.45 has drafted mightily behind the tactic of labeling everyone else guilty of Fake News pandering, thus turning Opposite Day into a regular dietary staple of his operation.
It may be no exaggeration to opine that absent Twitter and Trump’s millions of Twitterites, there would be no Trump.45 as President or a new Administration to deal with and live through.
One of the critical decisions Trump.45 himself made (against inner circle advice) is that upon being sworn in on January 20th of this year, he was not about to hand over his Twitter maker, and give up his freestyle finger pointing and140-character missives telling it strictly like it is (in his own mind). Too bad if the losers out there don’t like it.
Trump.45 decided to go bold and ignore all the ‘fraidy cats, even among his own circle who have repeatedly advised him to chill with the Twits. The doubters have become even more insistent lately over all this Flynn, Russia, FBI nonsense, plainly ignoring Trump.45’s entirely honest emphatic multiple declarations that there is no there there, and that an historically Great Witch Hunt is being unfairly and hatefully waged against his beautiful prosperity policies for all of America. Some evil doers even go so far as to impugn Trump.45’s personal motives, and question whether he might be trying to profit financially from his incredibly generous self sacrifice to dominate and lead America back to a lost prosperity. You know, MAGA, baby.
So far Trump.45 has managed to ignore that defeatist cautionary talk and let loose whenever the spirit moves him, even up to the start of the Magnificent First Foreign Trip , now one day old.
After 121 days in office, Trump.45 is winning the argument with himself. He is still in office, the nutcase, pain-in-the-Ass Comey is done and gone, and Trump.45 is fresh off the most wonderful reception, fit for political royalty that he enjoyed upon arrival in Saudi Arabia, where they appreciated his brash style and self confidence. $!10 billion in new weapons systems, including some advance items the prior failed Administration kept off the table, would put some bounce and lift in any political relationship. You got the cash, we got the guns, Amigo.
The Saudis have manned up, not like those NATO pussies who can’t even make a low ball 2% defense cost hurdle seven years before they promised to meet that goal in 2024 (when Trump.45 will be going out the door, if he should win a second full term). Never mind, accurate math has never been a Trumpian strong point, and the hectoring sound bite he recycles in the meantime satisfies his rhetorical needs.
So, Trump.45 has a new Defense Best Friend in the Middle East to cozy up to. How this new arms flood will encourage a coalition of worldwide willing Muslim nations, not all of who are Sunnis, will no doubt be made plain in Trump.45’s eagerly anticipated inspirational and educational speech tomorrow. We all wait for the revelation.
Not least because the speech writer in chief for this new effort is none other than Stephen Miller, the author of several previous dark Trump efforts, like his convention speech, and the Inaugural address. This arrogant young whelp’s chief intellectual provenance is as a hard right anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim zealot college graduate, who ran JeffBeau’s anti-immigration policy and communications shop in the Senate for a couple years. A star quality resume indeed,. Perfect for a new conciliatory approach advertised as a moderation of some of Trump;45’s harsher anti-Muslim campaign fire bombs. Perhaps young Stephen, like the apostle St. Paul, has had a moment on the road somewhere near Damascus, as it happened 2000 year ago.
You will have to pardon me if I wait until after the speech to celebrate the new Trump.45, and his speechwriter’s conversion to grace.
Twitter Counter as the Best Evidence Frame of Reference
Begun in 2008 (well in time to capture the entry, rise, and prominence of both Trump [October 2009] and Obama [September 2008]) as well as everyone else of statistical importance in the Worldwide Twitter Universe is the comprehensive independent Twitter analytics site called Twitter Counter. It is independent from the formal managing Gods of Twitter, so its comprehensive statistics are free, or mainly so, of any favorite umpire home cooking.
The site provides real time data of various sorts, and the basic stuff is freely available. A public service. Thanks, Twitter Counter.
It also provides highly detailed in depth statistics for a relatively modest fee for those interested in exact historical trends and standardized, accurate to the single digits about followers, number of tweets, and other interesting bits.
Check them out. You will be amazed, or fascinated, or educated, or maybe all three at once.
One of the best free compilations Twitter Counter offers is the Absolute Worldwide Top 100 Bar None List, updated daily. Find it here. There are a variety of other ranking selection filters, but the Worldwide Top100 is the Twitter equivalent of the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Boxing’s Heavyweight Championship, The PGA Masters, and the Kentucky Derby all rolled into one place.
Another benefit of the Twitter Counter methodology is that you can’t sponsor or pay to elevate your page ranking, like on Google say, or finagle other such means of influence. About as pure and abstract a set of data as you can find.
Until somebody proves otherwise, of course. There are Russians, bots, Duplicitous Chinese tricksters, North Korean hackers, and various Fat Guys in Jersey who could be fiddling the numbers someday.
So as of May 20, 2017 in the early evening, how does our boy Trump.45 stack up in the real world, as opposed to his own imagined legendary performance estimates.
Trump’s Worldwide Twitter Ranking
It should not really surprise anyone that Trump.45 is part of Twitter’s Worldwide Best listings. In fact, to even make the cut, you have to have at east 16.1 million followers on Twitter. Trump.45 met this current threshold criterion for celebration on November 27, 2016. Good on all the success stories. May your clickers proper.
Documented figures reported for Trump.45’s twitter followers in 2016 include 10.2 million (July 2016), 11.6 million (September 2016), 12.8 million (October 2016), and 17.7 million (December 2016).
In any case, as of today Trump.45 stands loud and proud at a total Worldwide Twitter rating of 29.98 million, a very healthy number indeed. It is good enough to earn him rank #36 worldwide.
Since our list comprises the World’s Top 100, we can sort out five quintiles of 20 each in consecutive descending order. Trump’s place at #36 puts him near the tail end of the second quintile (positions 21-40). So no insult intended but Position #36 means you are toward the back end of the Second Tier of the Best. That’s where Trump.45 is now. And it is the best performance he has ever given. But he is on the upswing over time.
For comparison’s sake, what about the World’s Top 5 as of May 20, 2017? They are in descending order Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Barack Obama, Taylor Swift, and Rihanna. Katy tops out at 98,4 million a truly jaw dropping number. Justin joins her as the only other Twitter God over 90 million at a robust 94.5 million. Barack and Taylor weigh in as members of the 80 million plus band, Obama sits at a magnificent 88.3 million compared to Taylor’s slightly more modest 83.9 million followers. To round out the Top 5 Rihanna has 72. 5 million twitter followers. Nobody else on the Planet beats 70 million.
So, the absolute Best of the Best on Twitter includes four pop stars and one American politician. Drats. Another real comparison in which Trump.45 is beaten soundly by his bête noir and general all around nemesis Barack Obama , the hateful POTUS-44. Almost 59 million followers worth. That is a whole bunch of eyeballs, clicks, electrons, and media oxygen.
Well, that comparison is not so flattering for the Trumpster. What about his immediate Twitter residential neighborhood, say the comfortable 29 million band?
This group comprises numbers #36 through #42, a total of seven stalwarts. Trump.45 is at the top of this particular second tier heap. His near neighbors are Lil Wayne (from New Orleans), Bruno Mars, Niall Horan, Wiz Khalifa, Pink, and Neymar Jr. This eclectic group includes rappers, hip-hop artists, actors, singers, record producers, choreographers, pop stars, songwriters, and a Brazilian soccer player, as well at Louisiana’s own contribution to the Worldwide Twitter Second Tier.
I like to think I have some Pop cultural literacy, with a fade towards the barely in their 20’s cohort, but I freely admit I was not tip of the tongue familiar with all the residents of Trump.45’s Twitter neighborhood. A pleasant exercise to cure that fault.
I learned they are a very talented, artistic group of folks, but not the usual crowd Trump.45 is comfortable associating with. Just behind this collection of artists and Trump.45 is Adele at 28.1 million followers, and just ahead of Trump at #35 is the third politician in the Top 100, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 30.03 million.
So, there are three politicians ranked in the Twitter Top 100, and Trump.45 comes in third, but gaining on number #2. Number #1 is a long way off.
Now there is some good news embedded with this structure of results. When Trump.45 was inaugurated on January 20 his Twitter total was 20.92 million. The same date Obama’s followers stood at 81.72 million. Today his total is 88,3 million. Obama, though out of office for the last four months (121 days), has grown his flock by 6.58 million.
During the same period Trump.45’s numbers have swelled to 29.98 million from 20.92, a growth of 9.06 million. Here Trump.45 clearly beats Obama (though he has mostly been on vacation since leaving office) one on one, heads-up by nearly 2½ million followers. Ironically, nearly the same amount that Trump.45 lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in November 2016 (2.866 million deficit). Funny, huh?
I encourage you to view the evolving list by visiting the easy to digest layout at their site.
Make your own comparison filters for amusement. Free entertainment, with a point, to while away some spare moments
Other Twitter Top 100 Vis-A-Vis
Trump.45 goes on endlessly about FAKE NEWS and the dishonest Mainstream Media (MSM). Can we glean any hints about how the actual Twitter Universe feels about these tempting targets Trump.45 is always shooting at? At least a little.
It is certainly true than Trump.45 tops out over The Economist, BBS World News, Reuters Top News, and National Geographic, He also loses in major league fashion to CNN Breaking News, The New York Times, CNN, and BBC Breaking News. All in all: MSM One, Trump.45 Zippo. Particularly galling no doubt is the supremacy of the failing New York Times and the hated CNN folks.
Trump.45 wins over NASA NBA, and the NFL He also falls well behind Sports Center and ESPN.
Trump.45 gets whipped soundly by Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Selena Gomez, Miley Ray Cyrus, LeBron James, Cristiano Renaldo, YouTube, Twitter and Kim Kardashian,
His #36 performance bests Conan O’Brien, Neil Patrick Harris, Ashton Kutcher, Leo DiCaprio, Alicia Keyes, ColdPlay, Mariah Carey, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, Snoop Dog, and Chris Brown.
All in all, a social media network ever changing artwork in motion. Trump is overall Second Tier, third out of three among World Politicians honored by the faith and sheer numbers of their followers, and of decidedly middling grade compared to A-List media celebrities, television and film stars who made the list.
A notable and worthy performance metric, but nowhere near a #1 showing, and a long way off for Top 10 Twitter recognition. As for U.S. Presidents on the list he is so far behind right now, the road dust will have settled as he climbs the followers accumulation mountain path towards 30 million, 40 million, 50 million, 60 million, etc., etc.
As always the slightly bitter lesson for the too eager back slappers and self patters is that (Actual) Facts Are Stubborn Things.
Twitter Away, America.
Selected Sources:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/08/hillary-clinton-or-donald-trump-winning-on-twitter/
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/donald-trump-2016-twitter-takeover-213861
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/trumps-biggest-lie-the-size-of-his-twitter-following
http://home.socialbluebook.com/trump-vs-clinton-whos-winning-the-twitter-battle/
https://backchannel.com/how-bots-twitter-and-hackers-pushed-trump-to-the-finish-line-a773f350478b
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/12/raw-data-donald-trumps-twitter-followers