Social media is an important arena for the 2016 presidential hopefuls, especially as their campaigns try to reach specific demographics, such as Latino voters.
"Social media is the new coffee shop where neighbors, friends, colleagues and family gather to discuss issues, talk about the candidates and influence others," Ted Cruz's campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said in a press release. "That is the most important space to succeed as a candidate, especially early on. The opinions of your friends on Facebook or Twitter are far more influential than what any pundit may say on TV. Head count matters more than headlines."
Hillary Clinton has the best numbers of any of the candidates. In the first 24 hours after she announced her candidacy, she was mentioned 4.7 million times on Facebook and garnered 10.1 million interactions. She's released an official playlist on Spotify that includes Katy Perry's "Roar" and Ariana Grande's "Break Free."
After Donald Trump's announcement, his campaign claimed, "3.4 million Facebook users in the U.S. generated 6.4 million interactions regarding the launch of his campaign - the highest by far, among all 2016 GOP candidates."
Ted Cruz's announcement "generating 2.1 million unique visitors with 5.5 million interactions in the first 24 hours of his campaign," accord to Fox News.
None of the other candidate, Republican or Democrat, hit a million mentions of Facebook during the 24 hours after their announcements.
Young, Latinos are one of the fastest growing demographics on sites like Facebook and Instagram, so those platforms are a good place to reach them. Indeed, Instagram is more popular among Hispanic and black Internet users than white ones.
Why does Facebook matter so much? Facebook is influential because 71% of American adults use it. Only 28% use Instagram and only 23% use Twitter.
Matt Compton, digital media director at Democratic National Committee told Fox News Latino, that social media is critically important to political campaigns. "We know this is where people are having the conversations. This is where they're going to learn about the people who are asking for their votes."
Could Facebook's reach and influence be a problem? Some worry that with the amount of information about users that Facebook has and the amount of influence they wield they could have impact on an election or promote a specific political agenda.
"Since 2008, Facebook has posted some type of button on its page on Election Day that allows users to tell friends that they have voted," writes Andrew O'Reilly. "A controversy, however, arose when it was discovered that only certain people saw the button and that those who saw it were more likely to head to the polls than those who didn't."
"Digital gerrymandering occurs when a site instead distributes information in a manner that serves its own ideological agenda," writes Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of law and computer science at Harvard University, in the New Republic. "There are plenty of reasons to regard digital gerrymandering as such a toxic exercise that no right-thinking company would attempt it."
The GOP is also focusing on Spanish language videos and other sharable content. "The Republican National Committee is ramping up our content in Spanish and launching a digital campaign with video, graphics and a blog," an RNC spokesperson told Fox News. "We also want Hispanics who read and prefer Spanish-language news to have easily shareable content on social media platforms." The DNC is employing a similar strategy.