twitter , the social-media platform donald trump has used to build and propel his campaign, is also one that his opponents are deploying to try to crater it. <u+201c>tweeting happens to be a modern-day form of communication,<u+201d> mr. trump said during the oct. 9 town-hall debate after being asked about a message he posted over a week earlier urging people to watch a <u+201c>sex tape<u+201d> said to involve former miss universe alicia machado, who had become a clinton campaign surrogate. <u+201c>so you can put it down, but it is a very effective form of communication. i<u+2019>m not unproud of it, to be honest with you,<u+201d> he said during the st. louis showdown with democratic rival hillary clinton. but as he was denying that he said there was a sex tape, mr. trump<u+2019>s actual tweet was out there for the world to see. <u+201c>did crooked hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) alicia m become a u.s. citizen so she could use her in the debate?,<u+201d> mr. trump had tweeted. no such tapes of ms. machado have been discovered. asked about mr. trump<u+2019>s use of twitter, and whether it can cut both ways by prompting tweets from detractors, trump campaign spokeswoman hope hicks said in a statement that <u+201c>mr. trump is an incredibly effective communicator, whether he is on stage speaking to 20,000 people at a rally or addressing nearly 30 million people on his social media platforms.<u+201c> she continued, <u+201c>he is brilliant, savvy and strategic with all forms of media and he has the audiences to prove it.<u+201d> david karpf, an associate professor who studies social media and politics at george washington university, said public tracking of messages on twitter has made it more important for those who use it such as mr. trump to be cautious. <u+201c>up until the past month or so, the ability to have a megaphone has been a real asset for him; but now the fact that the megaphone is so archived and searchable is a real problem for him,<u+201d> mr. karpf said. mr. trump<u+2019>s wife, melania, told nbc earlier this year that <u+201c>the tweeting<u+201d> is the one thing she wished her husband would stop doing. the republican presidential nominee built his campaign on social media. he has spent millions of dollars on ads on facebook and twitter while his television ad spending has trailed that of rival hillary clinton. the businessman brought his large social media following, picked up from hosting the reality show <u+201c>the apprentice,<u+201d> with him into the presidential race. for the most part, they have stayed with him and have grown to 11 million facebook likes and 12.2 million twitter followers. he has often rewarded that audience<u+2014>and sometimes his critics<u+2014>with late night postings responding angrily to slights and offering minute-by-minute rebuttals to the clinton campaign. another of mr. trump<u+2019>s st. louis debate lines<u+2014>calling for muslims to <u+201c>come in and report when they see something going on<u+201d><u+2014>evolved into a stream of anti-trump tweets marked #muslimsreportstuff. social media is being widely used to respond to the 2005 videotape in which mr. trump is seen bragging that his <u+201c>star<u+201d> status allows him to grope women. in the time span that included the videotape<u+2019>s release friday oct. 7 and sunday oct. 9<u+2019>s presidential debate, 9.5 million people on facebook in the u.s. generated 32.5 million likes, posts, comments and shares involving the video. it also set a new record on twitter as the most-tweeted moment of the presidential campaign. over that time, some republican lawmakers posted on twitter and facebook to revoke their endorsements and call for mr. trump to drop out of the race. meanwhile, many trump fans took those lawmakers to task for abandoning the nominee. on thursday, after mr. trump was denying allegations that he had made inappropriate advances on women as reported by several news organizations, his surrogates questioned the veracity of the accusers<u+2019> accounts. in response, women tweeted reasons why accusers are sometimes hesitant to come forward; by the end of the day, #whywomendontreport was a top trending online topic in the u.s. write to natalie andrews at natalie.andrews@wsj.com
donald trump attacks on twitter, and detractors tweet back  - wsj
natalie andrews