Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

This content analysis is built on the foundation of “schema theory,” as explained by Rumelhart (1980) and expounded on in subsequent research to illustrate the potentially powerful influence of verbal and visual (including written) messages on audience’s reality. A brief exploration of the relevant research in this area is given, followed by a detailed description of the analysis and findings. The study counted specific themes and words tweeted by President Donald J. Trump during his first one hundred days in office (i.e., January 21-April 30, 2017). Over the 100-day period, there were 511 tweets, and an average of 5.11 tweets per day, with some days falling well below or exceeding the average. The analysis further broke down the frequency of certain words tweeted by one of four six-hour dayparts, as described below, including “Overnight,” “Morning,” “Afternoon,” and “Evening.” Results show that, independent of theme and content, the President has a proclivity for tweeting between 6 a.m. and noon. The particular findings, as reported in detail and discussed herein, also discredit the conventional wisdom that his most visceral and/or important messages are tweeted between midnight and dawn, the so-called “3:00 a.m. tweets.”