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Political Uses of Social Media
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Political Uses of Social Media Prof. Axel Bruns ARC Future Fellow Digital Media Research Centre Queensland University of Technology [email protected] – http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au/
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Transcript of Political Uses of Social Media
Political Uses ofSocial MediaProf. Axel BrunsARC Future FellowDigital Media Research CentreQueensland University of [email protected] – http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au/
SOCIAL MEDIA?
• Facebook:– ~13m Australian accounts, all demographic groups– Smallish, strong-tie, local, semi-private networks
(family, friends, workmates, …)– Public pages and private groups for wider community engagement
• Twitter:– ~3m Australian accounts, influential professional demographic– Large, weak-tie, public networks (celebrities, journalists, politicians, …)– Hashtags for rapid assembly of issue publics
(#spill, #qldfloods, #illridewithyou, #borderfarce, #lightthedark, …)
#QLDFLOODS TWEETS (JANUARY 2011)
10 Jan 2011 11 Jan 2011 12 Jan 2011 13 Jan 2011 14 Jan 2011 15 Jan 2011
SYDNEY SIEGE (DECEMBER 2015)
#LIBSPILL
Education
Agriculture
Literature
Adelaide / SA
FoodWine
Beer
Parenting
Mums PR
Netizens
Marketing
InvestingReal Estate
Home BusinessSole Traders
Self-Help
HR / Support
Followback
Urban MediaUtilities
Advertising
Business
Fashion
Beauty
ArtsCinema
Journalists
Politics
Hard RightLeftists
News
CyclingTalkback
Music
TVV8s UFC
NRL
AFL
Football
Horse Racing
CricketNRU
Celebrities
Hillsong
Perth
PopMedia
Teen Idols
Cody Simpson
THE AUSTRALIAN TWITTERSPHERE
~140k Australian accounts with degree > 1000, as of Sep. 2013
AUSTRALIAN POLITICIANS ON TWITTER
(data to June 2013)
SOCIAL MEDIA?
• Instagram:– ~4-5m Australian accounts (?), strong with young adults and women– Often used in conjunction with Facebook and Twitter– Hashtags to help content discoverability
• Others:– Snapchat, WeChat, WhatsApp messaging apps– Periscope, Meerkat live video streaming apps– …
POLITICAL USES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
• Maintain connections with voters:– Strong role for Facebook, especially in local communities– Pages preferable to personal profiles– Embed audiovisual content– Allow voters to respond and engage in discussion (but manage abuse)
• Engage in political debate, respond to current topics:– Facebook, but especially also Twitter– Track and connect with hashtags as indication of public mood– Expect spirited, sometimes heated debate– Remember this is a public space – mistakes will be noted
2015 QLD ELECTION: TOP HASHTAGS
2015 QUEENSLAND STATE ELECTION
WORTH THE TROUBLE?
• Some social media myths:– “Social media can win you the election.”
• Unlikely – but they may lose you the election. Users will talk about you more than with you, and gaffes can go viral.
– “Social media are full of lefties / greenies / trolls / …”• No. Facebook has strong take-up throughout society; Twitter is
popular with the AB demographic, independent of party affiliations.
– “I don’t need to be on social media.”• Maybe. But if you’re not, you have no way of responding to criticism,
misinformation, questions, support, …
QUESTIONS?
@socialmediaQUT – http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au/ @qutdmrc – https://www.qut.edu.au/research/dmrc
This research is funded by the Australian Research Council through Future Fellowship, LIEF, and Linkage grants FT130100703, LE140100148, and LP120100627.
