The US president-elect Donald Trump has said that social networks such as Facebook and Twitter played a major role in his historic electoral victory. But he would control himself from its frequent use after assuming the highest office next year.
In an interview with CBS News, Donald Trump said he leveraged the power of social media to convey his message and fight back whenever he was on the receiving end of the mainstream media, which during his election campaign described as dishonest and biased.
"I really believe that-- the fact that I have such power in terms of numbers with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etcetera, I think it helped me win all of these races where they're spending much more money than I spent. And I won. I think that social media has more power than the money they spent, and I think maybe to a certain extent, I proved that" Trump said.
Trump added he has more than 28 million followers on different social networks. He also praised social media as an effective way to fight back against traditional media outlets. "It's a great form of communication," Trump said. "I'm not saying I love it, but it does get the word out. When you give me a bad story or when you give me an inaccurate story or when somebody other than you and another - a network or whatever, because of course, CBS would never do a thing like that? I have a method of fighting back."
However, Trump has vowed that he will be "restrained" with the use of his account in different social media sites as president. Just a few days before the US election day, the New York Times reported that Trump's campaign staffers had taken control of his Twitter account which he used to "colorfully - and often counterproductively - savage his rivals" and take away "a previously unfiltered channel for his aggressions".
