 By far, the 2016 presidential election was one to remember. Many dramatic events occurred throughout the campaign season. One example being Hillary Clintons email scandal. The election was going to be hard for candidates because it would be hard to reach all demographics and gain the majority of the vote. The way they would reach out to the voters was by social media. Social media had a huge impact on the 2016 election. All social media apps were used in one way or another by candidates to try to reach voters. Social media was also used to attack other candidates as well as candidate supporters. Social Media affected the 2016 presidential election by persuading, involving, and angering the voters. 

 Twenty-three men and women ran for president for the 2016 election. Six were Democrats, and seventeen were Republican. After a long and grueling election year, President Donald Trump came out victorious. There were many Republican primary debates, as well as Democrat primary debates. The Republican primary debates consisted of all the candidates just trying to get their voices heard. The Democratic primary debates comprised of mainly Hillary Clinton controlling the whole thing, and Bernie Sanders trying to speak up. Within a year all the candidates dropped out before the conventions except Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump. There was a lot of debate that President Donald Trump should get the nomination, and they should nominate someone else or make it a tie. People weren't ready for Trump to win the nomination because they couldn't accept their defeat. However, the convention went smoothly when President Trump was nominated. Hillary Clinton did have much opposition from the Democratic Party, just Bernie Sanders's supporters. The DNC Chairman Debbie Wassermann Schultz was forced to leave her position because during the primary season the DNC favored Clinton the whole time. During the last few months before November eighth, President Trump and Hillary Clinton went back and forth debating and messing with one another via social media. Online Clinton would say things to President Trump that she wouldn't say to his face. President Trump would say things to Clinton online too, however, was ground on his beliefs and would interact with her face to face and tell her the truth. Over 84 million people tuned into the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It was the most viewed President debate since 1980, which was the debate between President Ronald Reagan and President Jimmy Carter. The 2016 U.S. presidential election without a doubt, was very unprecedented. (Stelter)  

 The majority of Americans believe whatever they read on the internet, even if it is absurd. Social media does an outstanding job when it comes to persuading people. People post fake information on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even snapchat; and any reasonable person could easily believe wrong information. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, there were many fake advertisements on social media and people would believe it. For example, a few women came out and said that President Trump had sexually assaulted them in some way many years ago. However, the women were just saying this because they wanted to take him down, they were all Hillary Clinton supporters. ( Shalby) Advertisements online were also a source of persuasion. On Facebook, sometimes ads will pop-up and have information that is shocking, for example, one would say, this just in, if Donald Trump gets elected president, all Hispanics will get deported back to their countries. This accusation, as well as many more examples of false information, was advertised, but the information in the advertisement is completely untrue. Another way social media was used to persuade voters, was the use of twitter. Candidates would use the 140 characters to get their message across and help citizens understand their policies more clearly. (Bode, et al,) Those on social media will usually scroll past the long post. Because of the character limit, it is so important for the candidates to get their message across in only a few sentences. 

 Persuading voters at the last minute is also a technique used in the 2016 election. From an article written in The New York Times which said that Twitter reached out to PACs and Super PACs about posting advertisements election day morning. (Ember, et al.)A PAC is a political action committee. They are created to promote specific causes, and they try to influence the government. PACs usually raise millions of dollars. Many PACs will come out and support a candidate in hopes that that candidate if put in office, will help create legislature to help their cause. Twitter would want the PACs to do this because they would receive money from the PACs, but the PACs would benefit because they would persuade voters to vote for their candidate. Social media has become the most efficient way to influence voters on election day legally. PACs and Super PACs, or anybody cannot show support for t-shirts, signs, flags, etc. at the voting booths. It is also illegally to tell people who to vote for at the polling places. Social media has become a great way to do this because people can and will have their phones while waiting in line at the polls, they could see one ad on Twitter, and it could make the person change their mind. Last minute ads also help persuade people to come out to vote. The ad could use the bandwagon propaganda technique by telling the individual reading the ad, which they will be the odd one out if they don't vote for a particular candidate. It seems silly, but many Americans, and just humans in general and be persuaded very quickly. 

 Another way social media impacted the 2016 election was to involve likely voters. Individuals under the age of twenty-nine are less liable to vote. However, the majority of them have social networking apps. Candidates took advantage of this knowledge in the past election. As R. Kay Green wrote, "The ability to reach the millennial demographic is a major component of campaign efforts." And the reason why is simply because young adults are shifting more of their attention online to social networks. Candidates are naturally incorporating social media into their campaigns to stand out to millennials." (Green) Also, the millennials are more likely to vote because the candidates are participating on social media sites. As Dhiraji stated, "In some cases, Twitter has been found to increase voter engagement." (Murthy, p.818) Also, most millennials are not willing to do much research on candidates. Many millennials are not informed about the policies proposed by the candidates. In recent years there has been a declined of patriotism among the millennials. The younger generation doesn't respect America like they used to. The majority of millennials will just listen to what their friend tells them about politics and believe it. That is not a good habit for the younger generation to develop. That is why it is so important that the candidates make it easy for those just starting to vote to understand their policies. The laziness of millennials can benefit the candidates if they post more ads because the more the individual sees the ad, the more they will believe that, that candidate is the one they will get their vote. 

 It is also important to interact with the voters on a personal level. Some candidates were better at that than others. As in McGregor, Cardona, and Lawrence put it, it is becoming a lot easier for there to be communication between the candidates and the voters by saying "Personalization is marked by dynamics that strengthen the power of individual politicians.". (McGregor, et al, p. 265) Candidates that interact with voters, by staying active are lucky. President Trump stayed busy the whole election on Twitter and Instagram. President Trump wasn't able to interact with people one, on one but he made it feel that way. President Trump would single out veterans, women, factory workers, etc. and make it feel like President Trump was talking to them on a personal level. President Trump would have interacted with voters one, on one but he wasn't able to, just because he has millions of followers. In comparison, Jeb Bush was able to go back and forth with people one on one because he didn't have as many people asking him questions and also didn't have the followers President Trump has. Everybody likes to feel like they are a part of something. By the voters having the feeling like they are connecting with the candidates, the voter is more likely to vote for that individual because they feel like they know the candidate on a personal level. If candidates post pictures of their family that would help get the older voters vote because they feel like they are the candidate's friend. The more family pictures the candidate's post, the better. The more a candidate can make an individual important, the more successful they will be. 

 Social media affected the 2016 campaign in a negative way as well. It helped contribute in angering voters. People now more than ever get highly offended very easily. It's one thing to be sensitive, but another to be weak. In today's society liberals tend to have the hardest time. The majority of them are offended way to easily, and this becomes a problem. The government and even people will not get very far if people keeping holding actions up, just because something offended them. For example, Donald Trump said this was referring to Asians, "When these people walk into the room, they don't say, 'Oh hello, how's the weather? It's so beautiful outside. How are the Yankees doing? They're doing wonderful, that's great," Trump said at an event in Iowa. "They say, 'We want deal!'"(Kopan) After he said this some Asians and most liberals went to social media to talk about how offended they were. President Trump said this statement light-hearted, many Asians though the declaration has comical because it's an accurate statement. President is very well known for being a user of Twitter. In 2012 President Trump tweeted, "Obama will go down as the worst President in history on many topics but mainly foreign policy.!" (Donald J. Trump, Twitter) This tweet is very aggressive towards the former President Barak Obama. By tweeting this, Donald Trump took criticism from President Obama supporters. This statement made Obama supporters infuriated with Present Trump. The people angered by this tweet probably didn't vote for President Trump. However, it benefited President Trump in a way because all the voters who don't like Obama and may be undecided would like this tweet and support President Trump. A lot of people want to say things, but they are worried that will get backlash. However, President Trump isn't that kind of man. On the Democratic side, at an event, Hillary Clinton said some words about Trump supporters. Alastair Jaimeson wrote, "Hillary Clinton urged supporters late Friday not to be complacent about Donald Trump's chances of winning the election, saying half of his backers were "desperate for change" but the other half belonged in a "basket of deplorable." (Jaimeson) This comment angered President Trump supports. However, they weren't offended by the label of deplorable; they embraced it. A few days later the word deplorable was everywhere, but it wasn't a bad thing anymore. President Trump supports would even make posters that said, "Deplorable for Trump." Trump supporters turned a wrong label into a real name.

  Voters for both President Trump and Hillary Clinton were both angered when the scandals about them surface. There were many scandals for both candidates. The most prevent at the end of the campaign was the women who accused Trump of sexual assault and the Trump University scandal(Shalby). Clinton supports were outraged by these scandals. The Democratic party cares deeply about women's rights, so members of the party were highly offended when this news broke. Many Republicans were very upset at President Trump as well. If he had committed sexual assault on the women that would have been a deciding factor in the election. The Democrats along with many Republicans were not happy with the Trump University case, which claimed that President Trump conned people. In the end, the women gave up, and the Trump University case settled.  However, the largest scandal of the election was Hillary Clintons email scandal. Clinton used a private server while secretary of state and misused classified information with people she shouldn't have. There were hearing about the case, and Clinton finally admitted that having the private email server was not a good idea. However, 30,000 emails to this day have not been found. Many wanted to convict her because if she is guilty, she would have to go to prison. Trump supports this idea. At Trump rallies, they should button that said, "Hillary for Prison." Clinton avoided the topic as much as she could. After Trump had been elected, the whole situation died down.  

 When it comes to social media, there are few restrictions on what can't go online, one being pictures of a voter's ballot. Information from CNNs AJ Willingham said, "While it's a lovely showing of civic pride, selfies with your ballot could get you in trouble." (Willingham) This statement mentions a negative result that social media plays in the political campaigns. By not being able to take pictures at the ballot may limit some voters surprisingly because it won't involve them. Some individuals who are not motivated to vote may think taking pictures at the ballot would get them attention and would make them want to vote. Regardless it doesn't help involve the voters. Social media is becoming more and more prevalent. Nowadays it is rare to see a phone that isn't a smartphone. Voters shouldn't be limited when it comes to showing support for their candidate if it doesn't infringe on someone else. Additionally, many individuals don’t believe social media can influence someone. Some people are stubborn and cannot be persuaded easily. People have also became lazy, they don't do their research. In the past, it might have been harder to change people's mind because people regularly read the newspaper and were informed on what was going on in politics. However, in 2016, most people just go to their Facebook feed to find out information.

 Presidential elections in the U.S. are becoming more competitive every election cycle. Candidates have to find new ways to get votes. In the 2016 presidential election, they looked to social media to persuade, involve, and anger the voters. Voting attendance has been decreasing in the last twenty years. It is crucial for candidates to get voters on board with them, even if they haven't voted before. This past election year, candidates sent out more volunteers then usually to go door to door, asking people if they had registered and if they haven't, they should. Candidates also see the benefit of interacting with voters and connecting with them on a personal level. The personal connection helps the voters feel more comfortable as well as, hold the candidates to their word. It is also so important that the candidates establish their supporters. People will disagree for thousands of more years, that will never change. However, candidates should be truthful and say what they mean. They should also be honest with the voters. Candidates in the future need to utilize social media in the future like President Trump, and Hilary Clinton did to get voters talking.
