"Unconventional yet provocative": Delving into the White House's unorthodox social media tactics
The White House has seen a significant surge in its social media following since Inauguration Day, with over 18 million new followers across platforms. This shift in digital engagement marks a departure from the more formal approach taken by past administrations.
The White House's social media team has adopted an unconventional style, mirroring troll-ish meme accounts with AI-generated images, humor, and off-the-cuff posts. This approach has been evident in various posts, such as President Trump depicted as a Star Wars character, border czar Tom Homan as a Teletubbies sun, and even sharing a "Bump It" hair accessory commercial.
However, this strategy has raised concerns about its long-term effectiveness. Critics argue that it is reactionary to current trends and could potentially overshadow policy wins. California Governor Gavin Newsom has publicly expressed his concern about the normalization of Trump's tweets and Truth Social posts, criticizing the White House accounts for focusing too much on less-serious posts.
The White House's social media accounts have also faced issues with copyright claims. A video posted by the accounts featuring President Trump's audio and a reference to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was disabled due to a copyright claim. In response to a request for comment, the White House responded with a meme referencing the show "Mad Men."
The White House's social media strategy frequently mocks Democrats, the media, or opponents of Trump and his policies, often using online trends geared toward a younger audience. This approach has been mirrored by California Governor Gavin Newsom's office on Truth Social, where they have adopted a similar tone, using all caps, nicknames, and arguing that things are rigged against them and Republicans.
Newsom's office has seen a surge in followers and impressions since adopting this strategy, gaining more than 250,000 followers and over 225 million impressions since the start of August. Meanwhile, the White House has boasted over 474,000 new subscribers on YouTube and 9 million hours of watch time.
JD Vance, the first millennial vice president, engages heavily online and has even been parodied on South Park. A source familiar with Biden's social media operation noted that while officials take the accounts' function as a source of public information seriously, they will still fight back against Republicans when they feel they are taking unfair criticism.
The White House's social media accounts were first officially used to engage with memes and trends during the Obama administration, starting in 2011 after the launch of the official @WhiteHouse Twitter account. The account adopted a more informal tone over time to connect with younger audiences.
White House communications director Steven Cheung has a X account, which will eventually become part of an official archive along with the White House accounts, and has posted mocking messages towards Newsom. White House officials have telegraphed that they are not worried about offending people, as seen in a poster they carried out to the North Lawn that read "Nowhere in the Constitution does it say we can't post banger memes."
Despite the controversy, the White House's social media strategy has been successful in reaching the president's base of supporters, with over 18 million new followers across platforms since Inauguration Day. However, the source expressed concern that the accounts seem to only care about reaching this demographic.
