Amy Klobuchar on Twitter

By Hayley Lynch

Following her debate performance in New Hampshire, not only did Amy Klobuchar land a third-place finish but the campaign raised $12 million. Although this did not translate to the same success in Nevada, it does reflect an elevation for the candidate who needed to find a way to enhance her appeal. Compared to other campaigns, Klobuchar has not invested as much in online spending. However, the campaign has released plans to begin running both television and digital ads in upcoming states. Aside from ad development though, how has the campaign utilized their owned social media in the meantime? This post will specifically examine Klobuchar’s Twitter account and the purposes that it has fulfilled.

Klobuchar has had stand-out moments during the run of the campaign so far that have led to increased Google searches. Beyond the campaign’s official website, one of the platforms that is available when searching Klobuchar is her Twitter. When looking through her social media presence, it is this specific account that seems to encapsulate Klobuchar as a candidate and her campaign as a whole the most. It serves as a defining function for three main areas that include establishing the story of Klobuchar, forming a community and providing calls-to-action.

In the article, “Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age,” Stromer-Galley highlighted Twitter as a “key medium for image construction” (p. 21). The Klobuchar campaign has taken to Twitter to fulfill this purpose at a few different levels. At its most basic, the account includes posts made up of Klobuchar introducing herself. The account also offers a deeper sense of Klobuchar as a person. During an interview with Bill Maher, Klobuchar mentioned the importance of humor through this process even mentioning a specific tweet that she put out in response to Trump. She has used her straight-forward wit on Twitter in other instances such as a retweet of The Daily Beast’s commentary on her plugging her website in which she responded with a simple plug of the website again. In other examples, she retweeted a post that compared her campaign colors to the Hidden Valley Ranch bottle and an image of an SNL mention of her famous hotdish. Klobuchar’s Twitter takes opportunities to reflect her as a proud wife and mother as well. She celebrated Valentine’s Day by posting a picture of she and her husband seemingly on their wedding day, and has featured her daughter in multiple ways.

While these approaches have established the narrative of Klobuchar, the person, the account also establishes Klobuchar, the leader. This narrative is achieved through tweeting about her background as the daughter of a teacher and union member, a student who fought for the right to wear bell-bottomed jeans in school, as a patient kicked out of the hospital after giving birth and as a politician who has the ability to win. In one tweet though, a clip shows Klobuchar saying, “My story is nothing compared to the resilience that I’ve seen all over this country….” This provides a connection between her story and the community that she is trying to build, which happens to be another function of the Twitter account.

In constructing a sense of community on Twitter, the Klobuchar campaign shares stories like that of a young supporter whom she finally had the chance to meet in person or the story of their director of Latino outreach, Edwin Torres, who is also a member of the Dreamer community. On a larger scale, the account is used to create an aura of coalition building with mentions of groups like unions and young climate activists. The account is particularly good at celebrating early supporters with many posts reminiscing on those that were with Klobuchar in the blizzard that she announced her campaign in. What the account has yet to feature more of is the supporter formed communities like the #Klobucharmy. The Stromer-Galley article touches on Sanders’ support of participatory culture (p. 10), which is what is also happening with Klobuchar supporters, but not as present on the campaign’s account. The account, instead, maintains an institutional leaning approach.

What the Klobuchar Twitter account really emphasizes are calls-to-action for the campaign. Most of these are made up of posts that lead to the campaign donation website. They either lean on the positioning of Trump as the enemy and the need to defeat him or on the accomplishments of Klobuchar. Other action options included are caucus and rally events as well as the number featured at the very top of the account to text and join the campaign.

Overall, what this account does well is provide a general idea of who Klobuchar is, where her campaign is featured and the victories of the campaign. However, if the campaign continues further, it may be beneficial for Klobuchar to attempt to target specific audiences on a more individualized basis through social media.