Commentary

What Really Swung The Election -- Hint: You Reddit Here First

More than Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or any other social media channel, it is news-sharing community Reddit that may have swung the 2016 election -- for better or worse -- said Revolution Messaging’s Jenn Kauffman.

Kauffman, who handled the media for Bernie Sander’s relatively successful primary campaign, said her team got some of the most keen insights -- as well as their tagline -- simply from following what users were saying on Reddit.

“The origins were in Reddit,” she said, citing for example, that “Feel The Bern” came off of sub-Reddit conversations.

“We adopted it as an official campaign slogan,” she conceded.

She also noted that there was a far more horrifying indicator that might have predicted the presidential campaign outcome: “If you went on Reddit, you could see there was so much vitriol against the establishment.”

Among other things, she said sub-Reddits comprised of “racist channels and sexist channels” were a troubling signal.

“We had a window into that,” she said in hindsight, adding, “We just didn’t take it seriously.”
1 comment about "What Really Swung The Election -- Hint: You Reddit Here First".
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  1. Craig Mcdaniel from Sweepstakes Today LLC, January 17, 2017 at 5:18 p.m.

    Joe, while social media made a difference, I would rate Hillary Clinton's mistakes far higher up on the list. The "Deplorable" comment made everyone who quested Mrs. Clinton's position feel like second class citizens. So in short, it didn't matter what media got people talking and thinking, it was still Hillary's own mistakes.

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