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Could Donald Trump Be the First "Twitter President"...?

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If there’s anything I know for sure about Donald Trump it’s that the man loves Twitter . The Republican presidential nominee can definitely create a buzz from his speeches and public appearances, but he clearly loves to let loose in a tweet.

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump knows how to pack a punch in 140 characters or less. On Friday, Trump took to Twitter to confirm that Indiana Governor Mike Pence would be his running mate for the election.

Tweeting His Choice

Trump originally scheduled a press conference today to announce his decision for the VP spot, but he ended up delaying the announcement in the wake of the attack in Nice, France. Apparently Trump just couldn’t wait for that new time and sent out this tweet Friday morning:

 

 

Regardless of your thoughts on Trump or Pence, you have to admit that we’re living in a remarkable time when the news of the vice presidential nominee for one of the two major political parties is first announced on Twitter.

Of course, Trump has made some less-than-official declarations on Twitter as well. Off the top of my head, I can remember Trump’s tweets about Obama’s birth certificate, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson’s relationship, and several disparaging comments about his Republican competitors over the past few years.

Now that Trump has secured the Republican nomination, his Twitter has shifted in tone a bit, and I’d say it’s safe to say that people in the party’s leadership or his own campaign staff realized he might want to adopt a more “presidential” Twitter profile.

Either way, unlike many politicians and other public figures, it’s pretty obvious when Trump himself is using his own Twitter and it’s not some unpaid intern somewhere down the chain of command.

Impact on Twitter

So what does any of this mean for Twitter? Well, in short, it boasts the profile of Twitter as a news platform. Whether they will admit it or not, executives at Twitter have to like the fact that Trump is so open with his Twitter activity. The news of his VP pick breaking on Twitter is exactly the type of content that Twitter needs if it wants to stay competitive in the social media landscape.

We’ve already seen the power that one tweet can have in the political world. Last year, Hillary Clinton took to Twitter to denounce the practice of price gouging in the specialty drug market. Almost immediately, Clinton crushed biotech ETFs, and stocks in the sector were consistently down.

And that was all last year, long before Clinton had the Democratic nomination secured. Hillary seems to have at least a slight edge in most major national polls right now, but the race is obviously far from over, and Donald Trump in the White House is certainly a real possibility.

Imagine if Trump wins and never stops tweeting! Imagine if the President of the United States opted to make announcements via Twitter! It would definitely be a fascinating shift in where we look to find the latest information.

I honestly don’t know who Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is planning on voting for, but he has to be at least a little bit excited about the prospect of his platform being the go-to source of media for the leader of the free world.

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