After Trump won the presidency, more than ever, social media is playing a major role in a political campaign.
In 2016, the election was tweeted, more than 1 billion tweets related to the campaigns were sent.
The ability to link up to a large number of supporters and to deliver headlines in real time, political candidates are able to use Twitter as a tool to fundraise.
As of June 2016, before the Trump won the election, Republican lead the way in Twitter followers.
| Michelle Malkin | @michellemalkin | republican | 1,400,000 |
| Sarah Palin | @SarahPalinUSA | republican | 1,280,000 |
| Joe Biden | @JoeBiden | Democrats | 1,200,000 |
| AppSame | @AppSame | republican | 1,100,000 |
| Nancy Pelosi | @NancyPelosi | Democrats | 840,000 |
| GOP | @GOP | republican | 800,000 |
| Carly Fiorina | @CarlyFiorina | republican | 697,000 |
| Max Emfinger Patriot | @EmfingerSScout | republican | 682,000 |
| The Democrats | @TheDemocrats | Democrats | 625,000 |
| Donna Brazile | @donnabrazile | Democrats | 555,000 |
| Reince Priebus | @Reince | republican | 477,000 |
| Senator Harry Reid | @SenateDems | Democrats | 357,000 |
| D Wasserman Schultz | @DWStweets | Democrats | 355,000 |
| House Democrats | @HouseDemocrats | Democrats | 354,000 |
| Senate Democrats | @SenateDems | Democrats | 349,000 |
| House Republicans | @HouseGOP | republican | 318,000 |
| Meghan McCain | @MeghanMcCain | republican | 275,000 |
| (((R.Saddler))) | @Politics_PR | Democrats | 217,000 |
| CC | @ChristiChat | republican | 163,000 |
| Deplorable Carmine Z | @CarmineZozzora | republican | 160,000 |
| Madeleine Albright | @madeleine | Democrats | 125,000 |
| I’m Chuck, Dude! 🙂 | @ChuckNellis | republican | 111,000 |
| Anna Maria Perez | @A_M_Perez | republican | 110,000 |
| Dr. Marty Fox | @DrMartyFox | republican | 106,000 |
| Nonprofit Quarterly | @npquarterly | Democrats | 103,000 |
| Pray Always! | @erotao | republican | 102,000 |
With the Twitter donate buttons tool, candidates can tweet links along with a “donate now” button by getting Square accounts approved. Political followers can then click the button to make a donation with different payment options.
In addition, there are new platforms utilizing Twitter for fundraising based on cashback like CharityiBonus.com. Candidates can earn cashback from their supporters while they book hotels and air tickets from popular travel booking sites such as Expedia.com, Booking.com, Hotels.com. Money does not have to take out from the pockets and on average, the cashback can reach $100 per year per follower.