Trump’s sniffles stir social media sensation
new york — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stole the social media spotlight during a United States presidential debate on Monday night — this time for what Twitter users branded a #Trumpsniffle.
The wealthy businessman was seen and heard sniffling repeatedly as he faced off against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in their first debate, giving rise to the hashtag.
The Twittersphere was abuzz with playful memes and animations as viewers tried to figure out what was causing Trump’s nose to run.
Parody accounts Donald’s Sinuses (@ TrumpsSinuses) and Trump sniff (@ TrumpSniff) instantly gained a large following.
A campaign aide said Trump, 70, did not have a cold.
Several tweeters seized on the sniffling to hit back at Trump over his repeated digs at the health and stamina of Clinton, 68, who had pneumonia earlier this month.
“I am worried about @realDonaldTrump’s health - are the sniffles symptoms of something more serious? #sniff #debatenight,” tweeted user Scott Charton.(https://twitter.com/ScottCharton/ status/780577081818087424)
Twitter said the debate was the most tweeted-about political moment in the social media company’s history. Trump was the focus of 62 per cent of the conversation on the social media platform, Twitter said.
On Facebook, conversations about Trump made up 79 per cent of debate chatter, while Hillary Clinton’s share of the conversation was 21 per cent.
Even so, sentiment appeared to go Clinton’s way.
Social media analytics firm Zoomph said tweets mentioning Clinton ended at a ratio of about 1.5 to 1, which meant that for every negative mention, there were 1.5 positive mentions, Zoomph said.
Sentiment toward Trump fluctuated, but ended nearly flat at a ratio of one positive mention to every negative one. The most tweeted-about topics were the economy, foreign affairs, energy and environment, terrorism and guns. —
They said Trump’s ignorant of the issues. I think he proved that he had at least a working handle on most of the stuff he was talking about. Richard Mcconochie, from Australia
He looked dangerously reasonable at the beginning, but of course he veered off into his trademark semi unreasonableness. Timi Soleye, from Nigeria
He took the lead on foreign affairs, condemning the US interventions in Iraq and Libya. He also was reassuring on the issues of employment and tax relief Valery Akpole, from Ivory Coast
Trump didn’t have a plan. Neither for the US nor for the big foreign policy challenges. Clinton convinced with competence and clarity. It was a clear victory for her. Sigmar Gabriel, Head of German SPD
Although she performed well during the debate and Trump failed to triumph over the hilarious Hillary Clinton, I doubt it. Doris Conteh, from Sierra Leone