Donald Trump’s return to X reminded everyone of a strangely underutilized advertising feature of the Twitter era: banner notifications.
Within hours last night, people who liked Trump’s tweets about North Carolina got a personal response. “THANK YOU for liking my post!” Trump’s X account will tell. “I will send you KEY ELECTION UPDATES for North Carolina. Make sure you’re ready to VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP on November 5. Reply with #stop to opt out.”
The messages were strange for many reasons. Each will directly tag the account that liked the tweet and personally thank them for doing so. Neither message appeared on Trump’s timeline but generated separate and shareable URLs. Once people realized what was going on, it led to some hilarious writing. Humorous accounts with names like “TrumpIsTheFelon” popped up and wanted to say “thank you” to Donald.
@TrumpIsTheFelon THANK YOU for liking my post!
I will send you UPDATES on the North Carolina IMPORTANT ELECTION. Make sure you are ready to VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP on November 5th.
Answer #Wait to get out.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2024
Trump, of course, doesn’t handily thank everyone who likes his post. This is an ad campaign run by X, a type of less-used ad that was first served in the Twitter era called branded notifications. “Branded notifications allow advertisers to have 1-1 conversations with customers at scale, delivering time-triggered, automated, @mention posts to opt-in users at key moments,” X’s website explains.
If you’ve ever donated money to a political candidate or even signed up for information about local elections, you may have received similar text messages. Branded notices are basically the same thing but on a scale and are more public. On October 1, Trump’s X account posted a call to action that started the campaign.
North Carolina: Get ready to vote!
LIKE this post for IMPORTANT election reminders in North Carolina.
Whether you vote early or vote in person on Election Day — have a plan and make sure you VOTE! pic.twitter.com/lF5GYcrWmC
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2024
Anyone who likes this post can receive a personalized reply from Trump’s account. The campaign is still going on, but it’s changed a bit. Trump’s replies are no longer thanking someone for liking his tweet.
I will send you UPDATES on the North Carolina IMPORTANT ELECTION. Make sure you are ready to VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP on November 5th.
Answer #Wait to get out.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2024
North Carolina is a key battleground state in the election. It’s a swing state and the polls show a tight race. The State Board of Elections recently released voter lists for 747,000 people. And the revelation that Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson has spent much of his adult life posting strange things on ghost sites has killed his chances of winning the state, and by extension, Trump’s fortunes.
Hurricane Helene also changed the statistics in the province. About 200 people died and hundreds more lost their homes and still have no electricity, water, or food. Both Trump and Kamala Harris have visited Georgia and both are scheduled to visit North Carolina and campaign there, but neither has happened since Helene has traveled the state.
