Category Compare & Analysis

2013-2016

This timeline forms the basis of all subsequent reporting. The ‘meat’ in the social media conversation is not pro, con and neutral about the DA – it is in comparison with other parties.

This is especially true in our new coalition oriented political landscape.

This timeline capture DA +, DA -, DA neutral, DA vs ANC (Pro DA, neutral and Pro ANC), DA vs EFF (Pro DA, neutral and Pro EFF) DA and Multi Party (Positive and Negative). It is in analysing

this data on a monthly basis that the true power of our political performance analytics will be seen.

Democratic Alliance: 2013-2016

The largest spike in overall positivity towards the DA was when a relationship between Agang and the DA was announced and again when Ramphele was announced as the presidential candidate

for the DA. In both cases negativity and overall neutral conversation also increased substantially in volume.

Interestingly, Zille stepping down and Maimane taking the helm resulted in significant neutral conversation about the party – and didn’t elicit the emotive positive and negative sentiment we

might have expected.

During the 2016 local elections overall conversation about the DA increased significantly while negativity remained very low. This marks a significant time for the DA in terms of market

perception.

Democratic Alliance: 2013-2016

IfDAWins 12%DAEasternCape 12%DAGauteng 10%Our_DA 8%Mmusi Maimane 5%VoteForChange 5%DA_News 4%Helenzille 4%Democratic Alliance 4%AtholT 3%DA's Presidential Candidate 3%VoteDA 2%WesternCapeDA 2%DA's Herman Mashaba 2%Our_DA DAGauteng 2%Mayoral Candidate 2%Gauteng 2%Ward 2%Athol Trollip 2%MaimaneAM 2%DAGauteng MsimangaForMayor 2%Racist 2%

TrollipforMayor 1%SollyMsimanga 1%SABC 1%DA's Plan 1%DAGauteng DA_News 1%PBJ_7 Our_DA DAEasternCape 1%Launch Our_DA 1%TerriStander DAEasternCape 1%HermanMashaba MashabaForMayor 1%Door to Door 1%DA's Athol Trollip 1%TanyaHeydenrych RegisterForChange DAGauteng 0%

When the exclusive DA conversation is broken down into topic trends, the largest volume of conversation was around #ifDAWins - which

looked to both poke fun at the DA and offer warning to those who opt to vote DA. This was followed up by the #DAEasternCape as considerable

efforts were taken to capture more of the vote in this region.

Pro DA:2013 - 2016

Over the course of the study period, there is a clear relationship between positivity towards the DA and discussion which compared the DA favourably to the ANC (on policy, performance, corruption etc). Largely, the EFF was unfavourably compared to the DA through the observation that “More

black voters voted for the DA than the EFF”).

During the 2016 local election, the DA was compared favourably against both the ANC and EFF as their overall performance became clear.

Pro DA: 2013-2016

2.1 billion total potential impressionsPro-DA conversation reached a possible 2.1 billion individuals.

Within the conversation, the vast majority of the top mentions relate

to DA leadership.

Managing this process will be a critical aspect of directing

conversation going into the 2019 elections.

Top Mentions

Anti DA: 2013-2016Looking exclusively at the negative conversation pertaining to the DA: the biggest spikes are related to the

association with Agang early in 2014. Interestingly, the EFF gained the largest support (i.e. the DA was being compared unfavourably to the EFF) with 12 468 compares.

The ANC, on the other hand, only favourably compared to the DA 9 628 times since the beginning of 2013. During the 2016 local elections, the EFF received considerable favorability - particularly as their kingmaker

position became more clear.

While the Pro-DA conversation reached a possible 2.1 billion

individuals, the negative reached substantially fewer people at 411

million potential impressions.

A large portion of the anti-DA conversation is driven by race

awareness, “plots” and Helen Zille’s tweets.

Anti DA: 2013-2016

411 million total potential impressions

Top Mentions

DA vs EFF: 2013-2016Overall, the DA out-performed the EFF in direct compare favorability (17 335 vs 12 468). The most

significant moment during the reporting period is when Ramphele (temporarily) joined the DA as their presidential candidate.

The second largest incident was when both the DA and EFF left SONA2015 (resulting in neutral conversation). Leading up to the elections the EFF began to perform better when compared to the DA and

as the vote came in the parties were increasingly involved in neutral conversation.

DA vs EFF: 2013-2016

360 million total potential impressions

Top Mentions

Despite the high volume of conversation, the overall potential impressions of the conversation was significantly lower than the

ANC vs DA - this is in large part as a result of generally lower

individual influence of the EFF community than the ANC

communities online.

Pro DA: DA vs EFF: 2013-2016

Of the Pro-DA conversation, 39% discussed “People Who Vote”, 5% is in direct reference to who they would “rather vote” for, 4% refer to White Voters

casting their vote, 4% urging other to vote for change, 2% Mmusi Maimane and 2% “White people”

Mmusi Miamane

Vote For Change

Rather Vote

White People

White Voters Cast Ballots

People Who Vote

Most Prolific Authors

Pro EFF: DA vs EFF: 2013-2016

Helen

Vote

Helen Zille

Black People

EconFreedomZA Malema

Of the Pro EFF vs DA conversation, 42% referred to

Vote, 9% Helen Zille, 2% EconFreedomZA, 2% Malema and

1% Black People.

Most Prolific Authors

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