UPDATED 00:36 EST / DECEMBER 08 2016

APPS

Is Donald Trump the best thing ever to happen to Twitter?

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s use of Twitter Inc.’s service has prompted some changes on the platform and responses from the site itself this week.

Most recently, Trump’s diplomatic acumen came into question regarding tweets relating to China and Taiwan. Trump’s phone call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and subsequent tweets about the call caused ripples on the stock market. He then further exploited the popular platform to use it for what Fortune called a “China-slam.”

As a result, Trump’s modus operandi has again come into question, although The New York Times asked if there is not a method to his seeming madness. Trump’s rise to power has been attributed by some to his careful management of even negative news to keep himself in the news pretty much 24/7 during his entire campaign. As Oscar Wilde once told us, “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

According to the New York Times, which this week analyzed 14,000 of Trump’s tweets, one in nine was an insult. “If Mr. Trump continues to use Twitter as president the way he did as a candidate, we may see new chief antagonists,” the Times wrote.

Now, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey has weighed in with his own opinion of Trump’s adroit use of the platform. Speaking at the Code Commerce conference in California, Dorsey said that “more than any other candidate, Trump excelled in his use of Twitter.”

Dorsey described this era as one in which everything is told in real-time in a triumvirate of adjectives pertaining to Trump: “fascinating,” “interesting” and “complicated.”

Dorsey seemed pleased that his service is now very much in the limelight thanks to Trump. “He’s known how to use it for quite some time,” Dorsey said. “I think it’s an important time for the company and service. And having the president-elect on our service, using it as a direct line of communication, allows everyone to see what’s on his mind in the moment.”

This is not unalloyed good for Twitter, however. This week the company reportedly cracked down on Trump-bots that automatically would respond to some of Trump’s tweets within a matter of seconds, according to Motherboard.

Twitter banned the accounts, citing its policies on automated responses. What’s interesting, and also complicated, is that, as Motherboard states, “in the days since Twitter’s crackdown on Trump’s automated responders, the spaces beneath his tweets are still a hotbed of memes, arguments and general nonsense, but they’re coming from a wide variety of people and the tweets don’t appear to be automated. Isn’t that what a democracy is about?”

One thing seems certain: Donald J. Trump has a stronghold on many types of media. It remains to be seen if his hubris on the platforms that made him will come back to bite him.

Photo credit: marek.sotak via Flickr

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