Tweetplomacy and Thoughttweets: The Hallmarks of the Trump Presidency?

Presidential candidates have used media, and in more recent years, social media, to communicate and connect with their voters. After being elected, Presidents have continued to use various media to keep the people of the country informed of the administration's policies and notable actions and achievements.

Even before he assumed the Office of the President, Mr. Trump used tweets to convey what he thought about various events and issues. Such use of tweets can be appropriately labeled "tweetpolicy" when the contents of such tweets make reference to, for example, the current healthcare policy. Technically the tweets are not policy, but do provide clues regarding the direction that his policies will take.

When the contents of Mr. Trump's tweets include references to actions of other countries and its leaders, the correct term to use to refer to such tweets would be "tweetplomacy". Mr. Trump has used "tweetplomacy" to send signals to other countries.

It can also be argued that Mr. Trump has used Twitter.com to convey his thoughts throughout his campaign and after he won the Presidential elections. Because such thoughts were conveyed via tweets, they can be labeled "tweetthoughts" or "thoughtbytes." Politicians have for many years used sound bites to convey their ideas to their constituents.

Mr. Trump has used social media to convey his message to his constituents in the form of "thoughtbytes." I am not suggesting that the thoughts conveyed by Mr. Trump are either correct or wrong, I am just stating that he has conveyed his thoughts in the form of short tweets. It is up to the people to either accept or reject his thoughts.

Another set of tweets that Mr. Trump has sent were aimed at companies that were planning to start manufacturing facilities outside the United States. Because the contents of such tweets apparently made the companies change their plans, they can be labeled "armtwisttweets".

Yet another set of tweets can be called "slamtweets" or "tweetslams" because the contents of these tweets slammed what Mr. Trump's opponents were saying. A case in point is the tweet slamming the idea that Russian hackers were responsible for hacking the emails of one of the political parties.

Many people are worried and think that Mr. Trump's use of Twitter.com is inappropriate. However, it is possible that his use of tweets will make his Presidency more transparent than the administrations of his predecessors.

Past Presidents have used newspapers, radio, TV and the World Wide Web to communicate with people of the country. Twitter.com is a service or medium that allows people to communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas and share them with anyone who has created an account at this social networking site. Why should a President not use it to share his thoughts and ideas with the citizens of the country?



 By M.O. Thirunarayanan



Article Source:  Tweetplomacy and Thoughttweets: The Hallmarks of the Trump Presidency?