The document analyzes social media conversation comparing the Democratic Alliance (DA) party to other parties in South Africa from 2013-2016. It finds that: 1) The largest spikes in positivity towards the DA came when a relationship with Agang was announced and when Mmusi Maimane became the new leader. 2) During the 2016 local elections, conversation about the DA increased significantly while negativity remained low, marking a positive time for the party. 3) The DA was most frequently compared favorably to the ANC, while the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) received more favorable comparisons at certain points like local election results.

1. Category Compare & Analysis
2013-2016

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Pro DA: 2013-2016
2.1 billion total potential impressions
Pro-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

7. Anti DA: 2013-2016
Looking 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.

8. 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

9. DA vs EFF: 2013-2016
Overall, 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.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

13. END