Donald Trump has tweeted more about himself than America in first year

Donald Trump has tweeted more about himself than America in first year

US President Donald Trump tweeted about himself more than he tweeted about America in his first year in office.

A Press Association analysis of the president’s tweets since he took office has found Mr Trump used the first person or his own name in more than 20% of tweets, more than any other topic, including the country he leads.

He also tweeted about himself more than other prominent world leaders whose Twitter accounts were studied.

The figures show that America and the media outweigh issues of policy when it comes to Mr Trump’s social media output, and that attacks on the media and jokes about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have proved most popular with Twitter users.

And, never one for understatement, he tweeted 1,379 exclamation marks in his first year, an average of just under two for every three tweets sent.

The president used 10 exclamation marks on Christmas Day alone, across three tweets wishing his followers a merry Christmas.

Trump’s top topics

(PA Graphics)
(PA Graphics)

The media – described variously as “fake news”, “failing”, “dishonest” and “corrupt” – also featured heavily in Mr Trump’s tweets, in a little over 10% .

Messages of thanks appeared in 168 tweets, comprising almost 8% of the total.

Healthcare and immigration were central to Mr Trump’s first year in office in terms of policy objectives but only featured in 5% (118 tweets) and 4% (87) of tweets respectively. And tax reform, one of the few policy areas in which Mr Trump was able to get Senate backing, was mentioned in 5.5 % of tweets.

Commenting on the affairs of other countries has also been a key feature of the president’s social media habits. He mentioned Russia (3.1%) the most out of other countries, quickly followed by North Korea (3%) and China (1.9%).

How Trump compares to other world leaders

(PA Graphics)
(PA Graphics)

Neither is Mr Trump the most self-referential world leader on Twitter – an accolade which goes to Theresa May, who tweeted about herself in more than 40% of posts across the year.

The Prime Minister mentioned herself most in the weeks leading up to June’s snap election – in which Conservative party strategists pitted her against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in a battle of political personalities before losing their Parliamentary majority.

But the six weeks leading up to Christmas also saw a sharp rise in personal references from her official account, suggesting the Prime Minister may be trying to rebuild her personal brand after a year of heavy setbacks.

By contrast, Mr Trump’s penchant for self-reference was consistent throughout the year. The 20% of tweets in which he mentioned himself was slightly higher than Barack Obama (19%) during his last year in office and Mr Macron referred to himself in just under 7% of his posts.

Trump’s top tweets

Mr Trump’s most popular tweet as president came in July, when he posted a video in which he is portrayed as wrestling and punching a figure with the CNN logo for a head. It has received almost a million engagements – measured as likes and retweets – and more than 37 million views. The tweet proved highly divisive at the time, with supporters praising the president’s sense of humour and critics calling it a thinly veiled threat to the network.

Messages directed at North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un placed second and third. The November tweet saying he “would NEVER call” Kim Jong-un “short and fat” received almost 900,000 engagements, and a January message claiming Mr Trump has a “much bigger & much more powerful” nuclear “button” received nearly 700,000 likes and retweets.

The president’s outspoken nature and propensity for factual mistakes have led to many of his opponents calling for him to leave the social network or be banned.

He was widely derided for escalating tensions with foreign powers such as Iran and North Korea in tweets, retweeting false and anti-Muslim videos posted by the deputy leader of far-right group Britain First, and once famously left the world bemused with the statement “Despite the constant negative press covfefe”.

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