Blog #4: Mike Bloomberg

My observations for this blog center around Mike Bloomberg, as his social media activity for the 2020 presidential race has been a topic of conversation for months. While he has now dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden, I think that looking back at the messages he’s put out over the course of his running is a good way to see how an active social media presence and unified message can draw large groups of people together. There are several platforms that Bloomberg was active on (or his social media team, at least), those being Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Bloomberg may be active on more platforms than these three, but for the purpose of examining his social media presence, these are the three platforms I checked, as they are the most frequented and visible as a source of mainstream media.

Before diving into Bloomberg’s online presence, I think it’s necessary to discuss the sheer amount of money he spent to fund his presidential bid for the democratic nomination. Spending over half a billion dollars in TV ads alone, according to USA Today, Bloomberg has passed Trump as the biggest self funded presidential candidate. To put that in perspective, Trump spent about $66.1 million of his personal funds during his bid for president. Bloomberg paid more than eight times that amount. So that gives people a better idea of what they’re dealing with when they consider why he was so active online and on TV. Managing such a large online presence requires a lot of money, something that Bloomberg sought to give himself an advantage with. While polls showed that the weight of advertisement clearly helped Bloomberg’s campaign, a successful campaign requires more than just money and advertising.

Many of Bloomberg’s campaign ads shown on TV can be viewed on his various social media accounts, whether they’re on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. They all follow a similar pattern: attacking his opponents - or just Trump - while raising up Bloomberg himself. There are also several videos that try to just build Bloomberg’s credibility and why he would be good for president. These videos were likely put together by professional, and well paid, advertisement teams. The majority of the videos on Bloomberg’s social media have also been shown on TV, but there are a few exceptions. 

On Twitter, Bloomberg has a mixture of endorsing images of rallies and supporters, videos of him walking or speaking with supporters, or funny smash-up videos. Most of the content on Bloomberg’s Twitter account is what one might expect to find from the account of a presidential candidate, with the same tone that one might expect. “I’m immensely proud,” and “I’m deeply grateful,” are the kinds of language that Bloomberg employs in most of his posts. The kind of rhetoric that stands out is when Bloomberg is addressing Trump; this is where some of those smash-ups come from. A recent one from six days ago comes in response to Trump calling Bloomberg “easy.” The video depicts many different cuts from pop culture TV shows ridiculing Trump’s promises at one of his rallies (find it here). The video shows that Bloomberg is willing to be portrayed as taking Trump to task on his own battleground. To some, this could be seen as a positive; finally someone is ready to stand at Trump’s level and swing back to make him think twice about his jabs. The problem with that is when one considers that many have already corrected Trump on Twitter, so while Bloomberg’s methods are perhaps more amusing, they are not at all novel.

When it comes to Instagram, much of the content on Bloomberg’s page is more personal, dealing with testimonials endorsing Mike Bloomberg. The videos are usually testimonials targeting certain American groups (lower middle class, certain ethnicities, etc), likely in an effort to build ethos among those demographics (find the video and others like it here). Other videos promote unity and positive American values. Overall, it has a very propaganda feel; you’re not going to find anything negative about the candidate on this site, or other social media sites for that matter, because that’s not what these sites are used for. It’s an echo chamber of positivity for Mike Bloomberg. One particular video, however, attacks Trump’s response, or lack thereof, to the Coronavirus pandemic. In this, Bloomberg shows that his image is about raising himself up and tearing his opposition down. Bloomberg’s Facebook is much the same as his Instagram.

Much of Bloomberg’s social media activity includes knowing his audience: middle and lower class Americans, angry at a president that has demonstrated time and time again that he doesn’t think before he opens his mouth. Any videos or messages on Bloomberg’s accounts that aren’t building him or the American people up, promoting unity, are tearing down Trump, referencing his personal failings or lies, and promising the American people better. In class, we’ve discussed knowing our audience, whether it’s Tweeting, reading articles, or preparing our social media project for April. In considering his audience, Bloomberg and his media team have obviously created a tone of zero tolerance for Trump.