President-elect Donald Trump used Twitter as a megaphone, spurring hundreds of TV hits and articles a day based on what he posted on the platform. His fundraising campaign channeled millions of dollars into the micro-blogging giant by tapping promoted tweets and other expensive advertisement products. However, one Trump campaign fundraiser and Republican National Convention staffer is pretty upset with the micro-blogging site.
Twitter denied emoji to Trump campaign
The person is upset because the micro-blogging site did not grant Trump’s campaign access to one specific ad product: custom hashtag emojis, reports Mashable. Trump’s campaign had planned to create two emojis within a $5 million spending commitment that would appear alongside sponsored hashtags for the first and second presidential debates, but neither of the two “happened,” says Mashable.
This Sunday, Gary Coby, director of fundraising and advertising for the Trump campaign, shared his grievances on the micro-blogging site and accused the social network of limiting advertising for the campaign. In a post on Medium, Coby elaborated on that claim. Last month, the Washington Examiner, a popular conservative paper, covered the debacle. Earlier this week, BuzzFeed News covered it as well, notes Mashable.
In a blog post, Coby said that the team collaborated with the social network on the designs and both times reached the main step, but the emojis were ultimately cut. Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain and CEO Jack Dorsey joined the call the second time the emoji was canceled.
“On the call, Jack and Adam started with a lovefest by telling us how great our use of the platform has been. They then told us a last-minute legal review was triggered and they needed to pull the emoji because there wasn’t a paid-for-by disclaimer,” Coby wrote.
Emojis may look pointless, but the micro-blogging site boasts of their success. According to a study from the micro-blogging site, the amount of attention an ad gets increases by 10% with the inclusion of branded emojis.
Trump takes a u-turn on “restraint” pledge
Meanwhile, just a week after pledging to restrain from Twitter, Trump is back in full form on the platform. The President-elect used the platform to slam the cast members of NBC’s Saturday Night Live and the hit Broadway play Hamilton.
The show lampooned the meeting of Trump with former GOP nominee Mitt Romney on Saturday night’s episode. Romney is speculated to be in the running for a cabinet position.Trump also demanded in a series of tweets that the team apologize to Vice President-elect Mike Pence after Pence was both lectured and heckled at a Friday night showing of Hamilton.
