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Commander-in-Tweet: A Map Analysis of Joe Biden’s Social Media Activity

Worldmapper — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 22:55:56 +0000

What do Joe Biden’s tweets say about his presidency, and his approach to foreign policy?
Donald Trump’s use of Twitter (also known as X) as a medium for political communication was unprecedented. The former US President’s tweets, numbering over 50,000 during his time in office, were a direct channel to the public, bypassing traditional media which he often labelled as ‘Fake News’. Through Twitter, Trump made significant policy announcements, managed personnel, and influenced both domestic and foreign policy, reflecting key events and priorities of his administration.
Trump’s term culminated in the 6 January Capitol riots spurred by his inflammatory tweets and refusal to concede the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Three years after Trump’s suspension from the social media platform (by now reinstated but not used by him anymore), the relevance of X has arguably declined with its new owner Elon Musk’s rather erratic takeover and handling of the platform.
Nevertheless, X is still a widely quoted tool of direct political communication. For many politicians still on X, the medium is used as an instrument of crafting a particular political narrative and image of the politician using it, which is just as true for US politics as it is in the UK.
While Trump has moved to his own Truth Social platform, his prospective rival in the 2024 US election, Joe Biden, is a frequent presence on X. The incumbent US President uses both the official presidential account (@POTUS) as well as his personal account (@JoeBiden), the latter of which is arguably more personal as well as more polemic and often targeted at a domestic audience. In both accounts he and his media team have put a strong focus on celebrating the successes of his ongoing presidency, and the overall language differs considerably from the communication that his predecessor was known for.
Focusing on the tweets (i.e. messages sent on X) made by Biden and his team through the official presidential POTUS account since taking office in January 2021, offers a fascinating glimpse into the President’s political messaging, especially ahead of the widely expected Biden v Trump re-run in November. On social media, Biden often focuses on a narrative of economic recovery, adopting an overall conciliatory tone while still trying to actively differentiate his politics from those of his Republican opponents.

Biden posted around 2,500 tweets containing more than 80,000 words from 2021 to the end of 2023, a fraction of his predecessor’s communication through the platform. An overview of the most frequently mentioned keywords confirms some of the priorities that Biden wanted to be seen, with keywords such as ‘jobs’, and ‘economy’ dominating his messages.
Trump actively made politics through Twitter, while Biden’s tweets can rather be seen as reflections of his politics. Here lies the value in analysing his activity on a platform that Trump used on a daily – and often unfiltered – basis while he was on office.
Biden’s tweets also show where his geopolitical priorities were during his first presidential years. While the President uses X heavily for domestic statements, he did make active references to countries from around the world when it was most important to his political messaging. More than 1,200 references were made to another country during his first three years in office. The countries that dominated his global agenda from January 2021 to December 2023 were Ukraine (mentioned in 228 tweets), Russia (204), Israel (78), Palestine (74), Japan and South Korea (49 each). The United Kingdom follows in eighth place (40 mentions) after Ireland (45).
This list of countries is primarily a clear reflection of the global political issues of the ‘western’ world, particularly the Ukraine war and in the conflict in Israel/Palestine. This is a clear deviation from his predecessor’s geopolitical priorities, from Trump’s domestic agenda of building a wall along the US-Mexico border, to trade wars with China and his engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Biden’s global engagement appears much more responsive to escalating conflicts (where he sees an American interest) rather than more actively trying to reshape the world.
This could be seen as a re-alignment of presidential priorities to a more domestic policy agenda following the Covid years, but also an era of reactive rather than proactive re-setting of US foreign ambitions in a more pragmatic and at times more western-centric way. This reactive approach to foreign policy is also reflected in the temporal shift of references to countries over Biden’s three years in office.

In 2021, Afghanistan was the main priority following the Taliban’s return to power there, with references to other countries – mainly political allies such as the UK, Canada, or Germany – having played a minor additional role in Biden’s tweets. In 2022, as the Ukraine war came to dominate foreign policy, Biden tested Trump-style messaging, using the phrase ‘Putin’s Price Hike’ in repeated remarks about gas price hikes, clearly playing to a domestic audience. In 2023, Ukraine remained relevant but was later taken over by references to Israel and Palestine and the ongoing conflict there. In that year Biden also made unusually many references to Ireland around St Patrick’s Day and in the run-up to his state visit to Ireland in April.
Biden’s foreign policy, as interpreted from these tweets, suggests a strategy that is more aligned with traditional US diplomatic practices of coalition-building and responding to crises in line with American interests. This approach could imply a steadier but less transformative US influence on the global stage, with a focus on managing existing alliances and international norms rather than pursuing radical changes. The implications of this shift could mean a more predictable and multilateral US foreign policy if Biden stands and wins in November, but also raises questions about America’s ability to lead on new global challenges and shape future geopolitical landscapes. With a presidential election on the horizon, the direction of US foreign policy may become unpredictable yet again.

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State visits received by Queen Elizabeth II

tina-gotthardt — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 13:51:47 +0000

Queen Elizabeth II received visits from the Head of States of 62 different countries during her reign as a monarch.

France (de Gaulle, Giscard d'Estaing, Mitterand, Chirac, Sarkozy) leads the table with 5 visits, followed by Germany (Heuss, Heinemann, Weizsäcker, Herzog), Italy (Gronchi, Sargatt, Cossiga, Ciampi), Mexico (Echeverría, de la Madrid, Calderón, Pena Nieto) and Saudi Arabia (King Faisal, King Khaled, King Fahd, Al Saud) with 4 visits each. The 'special' partner USA (Bush senior, Obama, Trump) follows with 3 visits, as does India (Radharkrishnan, Venkataraman, Patil). The last visit was by President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump from the United States in June 2019. There have not been any state visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Covid-19/Coronavirus deaths (January 2020 – November 2021)

tina-gotthardt — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 15:58:11 +0000

Since 31 December 2019, when the WHO was informed about the first cases in Wuhan, China, more than 250 million people are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 (Coronavirus) from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and more than 5.1 million people have died (all figures last updated 21 November 2021).

The highest total number of deaths is recorded in the USA (759,388), followed by Brazil (611,851), India (465,082), Mexico (291,573) and Russia (261,589). Peru, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Italy and Iran complete the top 10. Most deaths in the past 7 days have been recorded in Russia (more than 8000), followed by USA and Ukraine. The highest death rate (per 100.000 inhabitants) has by far Peru with more than 600, followed by Bulgaria (388) and Bosnia and Herzegowina (371).

The highest number of cases is still recorded in the United States of America (more that 47 million), followed by India (34.5 million), Brazil (22 million), United Kingdom (9.7 million) and Russia (9.7 million). Turkey (8.5 million), France (7.1 million), Iran (6 million), Argentina (5.3 million) and Germany (5.2 million) complete the top 10. The fourth wave starting in autumn has resulted in a rise of cases in most European countries, despite vaccinations.

Read more on the chronology of the pandemic in our blog.

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Covid-19/Coronavirus cases (January 2020 – November 2021)

tina-gotthardt — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 15:40:27 +0000

Read more on the chronology of the pandemic in our blog.

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Map Animation: CO₂-Emissions 1970-2016

Worldmapper — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 00:42:24 +0000

COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, is held from 31 October to 12 November 2021 hosted in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Having been postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, pressure has been mounting to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Global carbon dioxide emissions through humankind have been rising steadily since the 19th century. But it was the second half of the 20th century that saw annual emissions accelerate exponentially. From below 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year in the middle of the 20th century, total tripled to 15 billion in 1970, reached 30 billion in 2005 and crossed the 35 billion threshold in the middle of the past decade, as documented by the Global Carbon Project. In 2015 the atmospheric CO₂ concentration crossed the 400 parts per million (ppm) threshold, unprecedented in the history of modern humans on this planet. This map animation gives an overview of the rise of carbon dioxide emissions in this most dynamic period between 1970 and 2016, showing the growth in emissions globally as the map keeps growing in size, and also showing the changing shares of countries in contributing to the increase in emissions:

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Map Animation 1970 to 2016

The animation shows each map proportional to the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions per year, growing in size with the growing amount of emissions. Each country is also proportional to its total emissions in that year. The emissions documented here show the countries where they occur, so that major producers for the global markets (especially China) keep growing considerably in that time period as they become integral part of the globalised markets and major producers for the consuming countries in the wealthy world, mostly Europe and North America.
The time series is based on data published in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research by the European Commissions Joint Research Centre, an independent, global database of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollution on Earth.

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Covid-19/Coronavirus cases July 2021

tina-gotthardt — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 23:34:43 +0000

The second year of the COVID-19 pandemic did not bring a change in terms of new infections: In January most cases are still registered in the USA (6.3 million), followed by Brazil (1.6 million) and - back in the Top 3 again - the UK (1.3 million).

February saw only a slight shift, with the USA and Brazil keeping their top places - with 2.5 million and 1.3 million new cases respectively and France (550 thousand) moving up into the top 3. The numbers of new infections go considerably down in the countries with the fastest vaccination roll-out: the numbers for the US halved and the UK has only a quarter of the numbers from just the month before. Indonesia and Czech Republic are new in the top 10.

In March 2021 the downwards trend for new cases in the USA continues and Brazil moves to first place (2.1 million). The USA is still on second place (1.7 million), India now on third place, after their case numbers tripled compared to the month before. France, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Germany, Ukraine and Russia complete the top 10.

April brought a new variant of the virus, much more infectious, first called India variant, after the country where it first was detected (later changed to Delta variant) and that six-folded the new cases in India to 6.6 million. Runner ups were Brazil and USA, both just under 2 million new cases, followed by Turkey (tripled the new infections to 1.6 million), France, Argentina, Iran, Germany, Poland and Italy.

May did not bring any chances on the top, with India's new cases rising by another 30% to more than 9 million, Brazil staying roughly the same at just under 2 million while infections in the US cut by almost 50% to 1 million. Argentina and Colombia move into the top 5 with 80 thousand and 50 thousand new infections respectively. Turkey, Iran, France, Germany and Russia complete the top 10.

In June the spread of the virus is slowing down, there were 2.3 million new cases in India, 1.9 million in Brazil and 82 thousands in Colombia. Argentina, Russia complete the top 5 and with Indonesia and South Africa new countries moved into the top 10 (again).

July sees Brazil going back to the top of new confirmed COVID cases, with almost 1.4 million, followed by the US with 1.34 million and India with 1.2 million. Indonesia, UK, Russia, Spain, Iran, Colombia, Argentina and South Africa complete the top 10.

The highest numbers of deaths were now again registered in Brazil (40,405), followed by Indonesia (35,628) and India (25,356).

Read more on the chronology of the pandemic in our blog.

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Covid-19/Coronavirus deaths June 2021

tina-gotthardt — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 23:30:58 +0000

The highest numbers of deaths by far were still registered in India (69,354), followed by Brazil (53,035) and Colombia (17,579).

Read more on the chronology of the pandemic in our blog.

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Covid-19/Coronavirus cases June 2021

tina-gotthardt — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 23:05:27 +0000

The highest numbers of deaths by far were still registered in India (69,354), followed by Brazil (53,035) and Colombia (17,579).

Read more on the chronology of the pandemic in our blog.

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