The UK election & social media

Dr Claire Wardle

the parties

the mass media

the audience

todaytoday

the story of the UK election

what social media did and didn’t manage to do

lessons learned

before the election…before the election…

“this will definitely be the first social media election for the UK. Look at all the parties on twitter,

facebook and youtube.”

“this will definitely be the first social media election in the UK.

I’ll put money on a politician being caught out on a camera phone and the footage going

viral on youtube.”

David CameronConservatives

Gordon BrownLabour

Nick CleggLiberal

Democrats

the posters the posters

mydavidcameron.com

mydavidcameron.com

the debates the debates

David CameronConservatives

Gordon BrownLabour

Nick CleggLiberal

Democrats

‘bigotgate’ ‘bigotgate’

non-mainstream initiatives non-mainstream initiatives

Conservative/Lib DemCoalition Government

A Miliband?Labour Opposition

the result… the result…

the parties on social media platforms the parties on social media platforms

after the election…after the election…

the way the electorate ‘played’ with the election, demonstrated the power of social media, not

the parties use of them

a gaffe did define the election, but it was caught on an old-fashioned radio mic, not a

camera phone

Source: Internal BBC research

What did happen?

Provided different ways for people to

get ‘involved’, including humour

What didn’t happen?

Political parties didn’t use social

media to connect in new ways with the

electorate Political parties didn’t move online

activities and enthusiasm offline

Social media sped up the news cycle,

connecting politicians and

advisers to journalists Provided

significantly better coverage on policies Mainstream media

didn’t point to the best of the policy driven coverage

online

one: when we’re considering impact of social media,

we need to measure the same thingsOff-Line Online

Activism Involved in campaign activities: voter registration, Get-Out-The-Vote, door-step campaigning

Using the web to actively campaign; encouraging debate about policies

Active engagement

Voting, giving money Commenting online

Passive engagement

Talking about the election

Sharing content online

Passive consumption

Watching a debate, following mainstream coverage

Lurking on twitter, reading comments on facebook

No involvement

two: horse race coverage is having a significant impact on the electorate, but the

web offers real alternatives

three: mainstream coverage and political parties need to understand the collaborative

nature of the social media space

Political parties…Political parties…

three: mainstream coverage and political parties need to understand the collaborative

nature of the social media space

mainstream coverage…mainstream coverage…

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