#ausvotes Mark Two: Twitter in the 2013 Australian Federal ElectionAxel Bruns, Tim Highfield, and Theresa Sauter

ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation

Queensland University of Technology

a.bruns@qut.edu.au — t.highfield@qut.edu.au — t.sauter@qut.edu.au

@snurb_dot_info — @timhighfield — @lena_sauter

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/ — http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au/

BACKGROUND

• Research projects:– ARC Discovery: New Media and Public Communication (QUT)– NRC FRISAM: Impact of Social Media on Agenda-Setting in Election

Campaigns (QUT, UiO, UiB, Uppsala, CSU LB)– ATN-DAAD: Mapping Networked Politics (QUT, LMU)

• Study design:– Comparative study of Twitter usage during Australian, Norwegian,

German (and US) election– Tracking tweets from and at Twitter accounts of MPs and candidates

before, during, and after election campaigns– Additional analysis of follower networks, national Twitterspheres, social

media / mainstream media intersections, etc.

TIMELINE

• Nov. 2007: Kevin Rudd (Labor) wins the federal election

• Dec. 2009: Tony Abbott (Liberal) becomes Opposition Leader

• June 2010: Kevin Rudd is replaced by his Deputy, Julia Gillard (Labor)

• Aug. 2010: Julia Gillard narrowly wins the federal election

Labor minority government, supported by Greens and Independents

Labor introduces Emissions Trading Scheme amid fierce opposition

Poor opinion polls for Gillard, continuing Labor leadership tension

Several unsuccessful leadership challenges by Kevin Rudd

• June 2013: Kevin Rudd wins leadership challenge, becomes PM again, calls election

• 4 Aug. – 7 Sep. 2013: 2013 Australian federal election campaign

• Sep. 2013: Tony Abbott wins the federal election

THE SOCIAL MEDIA PM?

TWITTER FOR CAMPAIGNING

AUSTRALIAN POLITICIANS ON TWITTER

(data to June 2013)

@TONYABBOTTMHR’S FAKE FOLLOWERS

(11/12 Aug. 2013)

4/08/2

013

6/08/2

013

8/08/2

013

10/08/2

013

12/08/2

013

14/08/2

013

16/08/2

013

18/08/2

013

20/08/2

013

22/08/2

013

24/08/2

013

26/08/2

013

28/08/2

013

30/08/2

013

1/09/2

013

3/09/2

013

5/09/2

013

7/09/2

0130

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

Sum of retweetsSum of genuine @repliesSum of original tweets

Labor campaign ‘launch’

Election day

#AUSVOTES DURING THE CAMPAIGN

TV debates

2013

-Sep

-07

00

2013

-Sep

-07

01

2013

-Sep

-07

02

2013

-Sep

-07

03

2013

-Sep

-07

04

2013

-Sep

-07

05

2013

-Sep

-07

06

2013

-Sep

-07

07

2013

-Sep

-07

08

2013

-Sep

-07

09

2013

-Sep

-07

10

2013

-Sep

-07

11

2013

-Sep

-07

12

2013

-Sep

-07

13

2013

-Sep

-07

14

2013

-Sep

-07

15

2013

-Sep

-07

16

2013

-Sep

-07

17

2013

-Sep

-07

18

2013

-Sep

-07

19

2013

-Sep

-07

20

2013

-Sep

-07

21

2013

-Sep

-07

22

2013

-Sep

-07

23

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

Sum of retweetsSum of genuine @repliesSum of original tweets

#AUSVOTES ON ELECTION DAY

Polls open(eastern states)

Polls close(eastern states)

Abbott’s victory speech

@MENTIONS OF LEADERS (@REPLIES + RETWEETS)

TV debates

Abbott ‘sex appeal’ comments Labor campaign

‘launch’

RETWEETS OF LEADERS

TWEETS BY LEADERS

TWEETS BY PARTY CANDIDATES

TWITTER FOR DISCUSSING THE LEADERS

@MENTIONS OF LEADERS

@MENTIONS OF PARTY CANDIDATES(@KRUDDMP AND @TONYABBOTTMHR REMOVED)

@MENTIONS (ALL USERS)

RETWEETS (ALL USERS)

Liberals

Labor

Pirates

WikiLeaks

Greens

Palmer

Katter +Nationals

@MENTIONS BETWEEN POLITICIANS

RETWEETS BETWEEN POLITICIANS

@MENTIONS OF LOCAL CANDIDATES

SOME FIRST CONCLUSIONS

• Campaigning styles:– Liberal Party:

• ‘small target’ strategy (better to remain silent than to make mistakes)• focus on leadership team to avoid negative perceptions of Abbott and gaffes by local

candidates

– Labor Party:• strong campaigns by many local candidates• lack of coordination across leadership team• Rudd surprising quiet on social media

– Greens:• high levels of activity, especially from Milne – too much?

• Public resonance:– discussion mainly about leaders, rather than engaging with / retweeting them– no partisan choices in @mentions of political candidates– strong partisan selectivity in retweets of political candidates, few retweets overall– more @mentions of Labor candidates, especially on election night: encouraging?

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/@snurb_dot_info

@timhighfield

@lena_sauter

@jeanburgess

@dpwoodford

@_StephenH

@quods

@socialmediaQUT