The Huffington Post announced Friday they would no longer cover Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, but instead will post stories about his campaign on the website's entertainment section.
"Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette," HuffPo said.
The decision could come at a high cost for HuffPo, which depends on social media content and referrals for a large part of its traffic, considering Lead Stories' Trendolizer's analysis of social media audience interest in Trump.
An astounding 45% of the likes, posts and pins related to the presidential race on a wide range of social networks were on Trump-related content, according to the Trendolizer's rankings. While this does not reflect support or sentiment, it is a scientific reflection of the attention the candidate is getting.
Lead Stories launched the Trendolizer rankings on its Presidential Campaign 2016 portal this week. It offers a live chart of each of the real time ranking of the 22 announced or potential Republican and Democratic candidates. The portal includes a page that "Trendolizes" each candidate which features a constantly updated stream of the top 10 posts relevant to that candidate.
It is based on Lead Stories Trendolizer database, which scours the major social media networks constantly to find and present the hottest trending content. Click here to visit the Lead Stories' Presidential Campaign 2016 portal.
The HuffPo announcement reads in full: "After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president, we have decided we won't report on Trump's campaign as part of The Huffington Post's political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette."
Scroll down to see the latest trending content found by Lead Stories' Trendolizer concerning 2016 campaign coverage.
