ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes Justin Trudeau’s use of selfies and Instagram during the 2015 Canadian federal election. It explores how Twitter was used by 17 US congressional leaders a month before and after President Donald Trump’s address to Congress in 2017 and State of the Union address in 2018. The book analyses the Twitter campaigns of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in the year before and for a month after the French presidential election of 2017. It argues that Twitter is by far the most popular social media platform in French political life. The book also describes the battle that is being fought between the oil and gas industry and environmental groups in Canada and by inference across the globe. One of the most important power shifts in political and economic life has come from the development of high-powered search engines.
