The 2016 US presidential election and media on Instagram: Who was in the lead?

The present study is an effort to analyze the timing of media postings related to candidates Clinton and Trump on Instagram before and after the 2016 US presidential election. Hashtags are used to determine whether a posting was intended to support or oppose either candidate. We thus obtain four hourly time series: Clinton vs. Trump, supporters vs. opponents. Based on cross-wavelet analysis, we find that, at the 12-h period, Trump supporters were leading Trump opponents as well as Clinton supporters the days before the election, while Clinton opponents were often leading Clinton supporters: Trump supporters and Clinton opponents were eager to post media, while Trump opponents and Clinton supporters were sluggish. Considering election forecasts, our results come as a surprise.