Adopting a Twitter account for politicians running for Congress increases donations by 0.7%-2%, especially for new entrants, but has negligible effects on experienced politicians.

Social Media and Political Contributions: The Impact of New Technology on Political Competition

Twitter-based campaigning can help win votes, but its impact is small and comparable to campaign spending, with no evidence that interactive communication improves electoral outcomes.

Does Campaigning on Social Media Make a Difference? Evidence From Candidate Use of Twitter During the 2015 and 2017 U.K. Elections

Candidates and their direct audiences prioritize different topics on social media than the mass audience, and use Facebook and Twitter for different purposes, influenced by audience characteristics and sociotechnical environments.

Election Campaigning on Social Media: Politicians, Audiences, and the Mediation of Political Communication on Facebook and Twitter

Social media during the 2014 European Parliament election campaign primarily reflected EU preferences rather than traditional national left-right differences, with lead candidates and televised debates significantly influencing communication volume and content.

Social media and political communication in the 2014 elections to the European Parliament

High levels of social media activity by presidential candidates have minimal effects on the amount of public attention they receive online during election campaigns.

Which candidates do the public discuss online in an election campaign?: The use of social media by 2012 presidential candidates and its impact on candidate salience

Social media use can influence citizens' willingness to endorse falsehoods during elections, but these effects are often small and mainly influenced by strong partisans.

Social media’s contribution to political misperceptions in U.S. Presidential elections

Political parties can have a large impact on Facebook, but voters' perception of candidates on the platform is generally negative for the winning party, as the party with the best sentiment impact did not win the elections.

Facebook impact and sentiment analysis on political campaigns

The most discussed issues on social media during elections are candidate biographies and party ideologies and manifestos.

Social Media Election Campaign

The dominant candidate's online image and use of videos and photographs elicit more positive feedback from social media users, while media frames have no impact on affective responses or comment quality.

What matters most in the responses to political campaign posts on social media: The candidate, message frame, or message format?

Technology firms, specifically Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, and Google, actively shape political communication through close collaboration with political staffers, shaping digital strategy, content, and execution.

Technology Firms Shape Political Communication: The Work of Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Google With Campaigns During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Cycle

Twitter commentary on political campaigns can boost or weaken persuasion, with positive comments offering a slight boost and negative comments having a larger negative effect.

The message and the medium: an experimental evaluation of the effects of Twitter commentary on campaign messages

Social media political information positively affects the voting conclusions of selected voters in Lanao del Sur, Philippines.

Election Campaign through Social Media: The Political impact of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube on Voting Decision in Lanao Del Sur, Philippines

As candidates' chances of winning increase, they narrow their social media communication targets to specific districts and individuals, focusing on verified accounts or those with many followers.

The Chance of Winning Election Impacts on Social Media Strategy

Digital architectures of social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat) significantly influence political campaign strategy and user behavior, as demonstrated in the 2016 U.S. election.

The Digital Architectures of Social Media: Comparing Political Campaigning on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat in the 2016 U.S. Election

Candidates use social media during elections, but few voters follow them, and the interaction effect between social media usage and follower number is relatively small.

Getting Personal? The Impact of Social Media on Preferential Voting

The 2016 US presidential election saw the professionalisation of election campaigns, while the Trump campaign's amateurish yet authentic style on social media points towards de-professionalisation and amateurism in political communication.

Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election

Social media use has a positive relationship with civic and political participation, but its causal and transformative effects remain unclear, and it has minimal impact on election campaigns.

Social media use and participation: a meta-analysis of current research

Social media, traditional media, and politicians' social media agendas influence each other, but no agenda leads the others more than it is led by them, with the exception of the environment issue.

Social Media and Political Agenda Setting

Social media users and news sites show varying polarization during political campaigns, with 48% of Twitter users polarized towards no, 25% towards yes, and 27% in a neutral behavior before the vote.

Analyzing polarization of social media users and news sites during political campaigns

Interaction with Russian Internet Research Agency accounts on Twitter did not significantly impact political attitudes and behaviors in the US, suggesting Americans may not be easily susceptible to online influence campaigns.

Assessing the Russian Internet Research Agency’s impact on the political attitudes and behaviors of American Twitter users in late 2017

What is the impact of social media on political campaigns?

These studies suggest that social media can slightly increase donations and votes for political campaigns, influence the topics and content of political communication, and shape digital strategies through collaboration with technology firms, but its overall impact on public attention and electoral outcomes is minimal.