President Joe Biden has not yet announced his re-election intent, but when he does, it will include a battalion of social media influencers who won’t be paid but who will be given privileged and exclusive access to him and will even get their own private briefing room in the White House, separate from the White House press corps, according to the news site Axios.
The strategy is to help Biden overcome the reputation he has for being old and senile, and not appealing to young voters, who are seen as critical to his campaign. It’s also a recognition that former President Donald Trump has a huge social media following and Biden has a fraction.
Biden has 37.1 million followers on Twitter. Trump had 88.7 million followers by the time Twitter suspended his account in January 2021. He has been reinstated under the ownership of Elon Musk, and although the former president has not used Twitter since being banished and subsequently reinstated, his account still has 87.2 million followers. Trump has another 5.4 million followers on his own social media platform, TruthSocial. Biden has no account there.
Biden has 5.4 million followers on Facebook, while Trump has over 34 million followers. On Instagram, Biden does better, with 17.6 million followers to Trump’s 6.4 million.
According to Axios, Biden’s digital strategy team will romance influencers and independent content creators sympathetic to his campaign and who can reach young and suburban voters. Influencers mentioned include Harry Sisson, Heather Cox Richardson, and Vivian Tu. Tu and Sisson both have active TikTok presences and Richardson is widely read on Substack and Twitter.
Bob Flaherty, who is leading this effort, has been promoted to assistant to the president and holds the same ranking as the White House communications director and the press secretary.
“A dedicated White House briefing space for influencers to meet in person or by remote would be unprecedented — and a sign that the traditional Press Briefing Room no longer would be the administration’s only messaging center,” Axios said. “It also would give some influencers more consistent access to the president.”
