Bernie Sanders’ official Facebook page is a collection of his stances on different issues in text, image and video form. On “slow-news” days, Bernie Sanders publishes posts about issues such as income inequality, women’s rights, and climate change.
The repetitiveness of the messages he conveys through such posts strengthens the image that he is and will always be a people’s person. He even posted a GIF about this, differentiating himself from Hillary Clinton.
Bernie Sanders also reacts to big news on Facebook. For example, in regards to Laquan McDonald’s murder, Sanders published the following post:
The short content of the post and the title of the article effectively describe Bernie Sanders as a politician who is an ally of the oppressed and does not stand for injustice.
Vs. Hillary Clinton on Facebook
The simple Facebook search on the left shows that there are many unofficial groups and supporters rooting for Bernie Sanders to be the next U.S. President. The other simple Facebook search on the right also shows a difference between Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders has many more “likes” (2,029,999 or 2,533,125 “likes” depending on the page) than Hillary Clinton does (1,875,598 “likes”). Given the statistical observation that Clinton is dominating in the race, perhaps we can make a claim that Sanders has more young supporters than Clinton, which contributes to the difference in number of “likes” between Sanders and Clinton’s official pages.
Bernie is Trending!
On December 7, 2015, Bernie Sanders was the third most trending person on Facebook, following One Direction band member Niall Horan and reality star Rob Kardashian. This popularity came from his announcement about his new Climate Plan, announced December 5th. Sanders is an active Facebook user and this shows how he uses social media as a platform for his campaign, his stance on issues, and to promote things like his Climate Plan. Being on the trending list shows that even as a politician, Sanders has gained enormous popularity from the general public and is successful in getting his messages out.
Connect with Bernie Sanders on Facebook!