This document discusses the political uses of social media in Australia. It notes that Facebook is widely used across demographic groups for maintaining local connections, while Twitter is used by more influential professionals for broader discussions through hashtags. Examples of hashtags that drove political discussions include #spill during a leadership challenge and #qldfloods during floods. The document advises politicians to use social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, to engage with voters and debates, but cautions that mistakes can spread widely and quickly online.

1. Political Uses of
Social Media
Prof. Axel Bruns
ARC Future Fellow
Digital Media Research Centre
Queensland University of Technology
a.bruns@qut.edu.au – http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au/

2. 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, …)

3. #QLDFLOODS TWEETS (JANUARY 2011)
10 Jan 2011 11 Jan 2011 12 Jan 2011 13 Jan 2011 14 Jan 2011 15 Jan 2011

4. SYDNEY SIEGE (DECEMBER 2015)

5. #LIBSPILL

6. Education
Agriculture
Literature
Adelaide / SA
Food
Wine
Beer
Parenting
Mums PR
Netizens
Marketing
Investing
Real Estate
Home Business
Sole Traders
Self-Help
HR / Support
Followback
Urban Media
Utilities
Advertising
Business
Fashion
Beauty
Arts
Cinema
Journalists
Politics
Hard RightLeftists
News
CyclingTalkback
Music
TV
V8s
UFC
NRL
AFL
Football
Horse Racing
Cricket
NRU
Celebrities
Hillsong
Perth
Pop
Media
Teen Idols
Cody Simpson
THE AUSTRALIAN TWITTERSPHERE
~140k Australian accounts with
degree > 1000, as of Sep. 2013

7. AUSTRALIAN POLITICIANS ON TWITTER
(data to June 2013)

8. 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
– …

9. 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

10. 2015 QLD ELECTION: TOP HASHTAGS

11. 2015 QUEENSLAND STATE ELECTION

12. 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, …

13. QUESTIONS?

14. @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.