WASHINGTON — Would President George Washington have been a tweeter, if given the chance? Would we find Abraham Lincoln as compelling in 280 characters or less? (The Gettysburg Address alone is about 1,300 characters, which would take a thread of about four and a half tweets.)
We'll never really be able to tell you which of our Founding Fathers would have preferred Facebook or if T.R. would TikTok, but on this Presidents Day, we're taking a brief look back at modern presidential history to check out the impact of social media, depending on who the influencer in the Oval Office is.
Recent history has taught us that social media is firmly a part of politics, especially during elections and campaigns. In the internet age, politicians have had to navigate their way in the social cyber universe and connect with their constituents.
"Social media" of the day back in the 1880s - when Presidents Day was founded - relied on newspaper broadsheets, billboards and posters to get a message out there.
The communication between the president and the people has evolved over the years with social media being a large contributor.
Here are some fun facts on presidential social media posts:
- To little surprise, Donald Trump set a record, being the president who posted the most tweets in a day back in 2020, tweeting over 160 times.
- Among the three presidents in the past decade, Barack Obama has the most followers on a personal account across all social media platforms outnumbering his two successors, Trump and President Joe Biden.
- Instagram: Obama (35.3 million), Trump: (23.5 million), Biden: (17.5 million)
- Twitter: Obama (130.8 million), Trump: (around 88 million before his account was suspended by Twitter.), Biden: (32.5 million)
- Facebook: Obama (55.6 million), Trump: (34.9 million), Biden (11 million)
- Currently, Obama has the most Twitter followers on the social media platform (130.8 Million)
Most famous tweets:
President Barack Obama: In 2017, Barack Obama had three of his tweets make Twitter's Top 9 Most Retweeted Tweets list.
President Donald Trump's tweet stating he and Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 charted with 409K retweets and 1,870K likes, according to the Trump Twitter Archive.
Tweet: "Tonight, @FLOTUS and I have tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!"
President Joe Biden tweeted on the day he was inaugurated. This also was named the most popular tweet in 2021 in Twitter's #OnlyOnTwitter 2021 report.
Why do we celebrate Presidents Day, anyway?
Way before the internet existed and people shared their thoughts on social media about presidents, the presidential holiday was created during the late 1870s, inviting the nation to reflect on the history of our commanders in chief on the third Monday of February.
Presidents Day celebrates the people who have been elected to the office of the presidency. Additionally, it is routinely celebrated as an extended weekend for some and a way to relax before heading back to the office or school, and marketers somehow have found a way to tie sales of cars, housewares and clothes into the day.
The federal holiday started as a tribute to celebrate President George Washington's birthday.
During the 1870s, a bill was proposed to have Washington's birthday, Feb. 22, added to the list of federal bank holidays, according to the U.S. Government Publishing Office. The bill was approved and went into effect in 1880 and was only applied to federal employees. The law was later overturned in 1968 when the Uniform Monday Holiday bill was proposed and later implemented in 1971.
It was later challenged to have the holiday be officially recognized as "Presidents Day" but it was not approved by Congress.
Despite this, the holiday is still popularly celebrated as honoring all of the presidents that have held office in the United States.