One of the driving factors behind Donald Trump’s surprising victory in 2016 was his campaign’s use of social media. Indeed, since the rise of the Internet and social media, the conservative movement has found a new broad platform from which to advocate in favor of its central principles after being largely marginalized on the “mainstream” stage now held firmly by the legacy media.
There are many reasons why conservatives found their new home on the Internet, including its original “free speech” foundation, the unprecedented ability to reach new audiences and — perhaps most importantly — the removal of generational informational “gatekeepers” which were previously controlled by the media elite. While in years past, only a select privileged few were given the microphone, the Internet suddenly gave everyone on the planet a voice.
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