Gov. DeSantis Fails to Reach Huge Audience on Twitter

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently made an announcement on Twitter that fell significantly short of expectations. While Mr. DeSantis initially claimed to have attracted more than 10 million viewers to his Twitter Space event, the actual number of people who tuned in to watch was around 300,000. As of Thursday, 3.4 million people had listened to Space or his recording, according to Twitter numbers. The relatively low viewer numbers raise questions about the viability of using social media as the primary platform for political announcements and campaigns.

Governor DeSantis’ Twitter event paled in comparison to past Twitter livestreams. Elon Musk’s recent interview with a BBC journalist, for example, drew more than three million simultaneous listeners, according to Twitter statistics. Brian Wieser, a media expert, suggested that the fragmentation of the media means that there is no longer a single unifying platform for political campaigns. Still, traditional TV channels continue to draw large audiences. For example, President Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this year was broadcast to 27.3 million viewers on 16 TV channels, according to Nielsen.

Experts noted that the use of social media as a platform for political advocacy can still be powerful. However, Twitter’s metrics can be difficult to parse, with a “unique” view representing each account that visits a post or other content, rather than the actual number of individuals who have visited. Bots can skew these statistics, and Twitter does not provide an adequate explanation of how it counts the audience for its streams and the audience for Twitter Spaces.

While the relative success of Mr. DeSantis’ Twitter Space event may be disappointing, it is a reminder of the importance of finding the right platform for reaching voters.