Presented to the #colconf10 College Conference in Canberra at the University of Canberra on 29/1/2015. An overview of Twitter, how it can be analysed, and things you can do in terms of looking at how political figures use their twitter accounts to engage (or not) with the public and other stakeholders.

1. Social Media,
Politics and
Elections
DR STEPHEN DANN
@STEPHENDANN | STEPHEN.DANN@ANU.EDU.AU

2. Summary
Online political engagement has been a mixed
bag for Australian politics. Whilst individuals
take to Twitter to ask questions of their local
members, politicians seem to be less
enthused about direct access democracy.
Discussion of how Twitter can be used for
politics, both from the elected and the
electorate, and the nature of conversation
online will be covered in this presentation.
This is aimed at helping teachers identify how
they can discuss the moral issues and
unanticipated consequences of opening
yourself to direct engagement on social media
in their classroom when considering political
interaction and the direction our society is
taking.
2. Know the content and how to teach it
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the
teaching area
2.2 Content selection and organisation
2.6 Information and Communication
Technology (ICT)
Index

3. Background
OUTLINE THE VALUE
The presentation will take participants through the
role social media has played in the political arena.
It focuses on recent Australian elections and
engagement through the social media platforms.
This presentation will be focused on engaging
teachers of politics, ICT, and legal studies. However, it
will have relevance for all teachers. It will help
participants gain an understanding of how Social
Media have come to influence social agendas and
political movements.
Understanding of this will help teachers engage in
the social media sphere and use it in their teaching.
RELEVANT RESEARCH
The presentation is based on existing
published research by the presenter on
political marketing, social media analysis,
and incorporates work currently being
undertaken examining the use of Twitter
in the QLD state election.
◦ Dann, Stephen. "Twitter content
classification." First Monday 15.12 (2010).
◦ Hughes, Andrew, and Stephen Dann.
"Political marketing and stakeholder
engagement." Marketing Theory 9.2
(2009): 243-256.
◦ Dann, Stephen, and Andrew Hughes.
"Australian Political Marketing after
Kevin07: Lessons from the 2007 federal
election." Monash Business Review4.1
(2008): 34-37.
Index

4. House Rules
@stephendann for questions
Livetweeting is fine:
Conference Hashtag - #colconf10
Index

5. Play by Play
Social Media Landscape
Twitter
Political Marketing
Politics and Political Twitter
The Takeaway
Index

6. Social Media
Landscape
SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE | TWITTER | POLITICAL MARKETING
|POLITICS AND POLITICAL TWITTER | THE TAKEAWAY
Index

8. If this then that
(ifttt.com/channels)
FOR A MORE REASONABLE VIEW OF WHAT’S OUT
THERE
Index

9. Top social media platforms in Australia
June 2014:
◦ Facebook – 13,200,000 users.
◦ YouTube – 12,750,000 UAVs.
◦ Tumblr – 4,900,000.
◦ LinkedIn – 3,700,000.
◦ Twitter - 2,500,000 active Australian users.
◦ Instagram - 1,600,000 active Australian users.
◦ Snapchat - 1,070,000 active Australian users.
◦ Source: http://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/most-popular-social-media-platforms-in-australia-june-2014-54544/
Index

10. Twitter
Twitter is an online social
networking and microblogging
service that enables users to send
and read short 140-character text
messages, called "tweets."
Index

11. The nature of the tweet
140 characters
◦ One off individual messages
◦ Sequential stories
◦ Dialogue / Monologue / Improv Theatre
◦ Comedy with metaphysical undertones
◦ Photos
◦ Videos
◦ Links to the outside internet
Index

12. Twitter
WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU’VE ACTUALLY GOT A LOT
OF REALLY VALID THINGS TO SAY…
Index
Social Media Landscape | Twitter | Political Marketing
|Politics and Political Twitter | The Takeaway

13. The following section is based on
Dann, S (2010) Twitter Content Classification
Dann S. (2015) Benchmarking microblog performance: Twitter Content Classification
Framework in Burkhalter, Janée N. and Natalie T. Wood (Eds.). Maximizing commerce
and marketing strategies through micro blogging. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. In press.
Dann S. (2015) Twitter Data Acquisition and Analysis in Burkhalter, Janée N. and
Natalie T. Wood (Eds.). Maximizing commerce and marketing strategies through
micro blogging. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. In press.
Hemsley, B., Dann, S., Palmer, S., Allan, M., & Balandin, S. (2015, submitted). "“We
definitely need an audience”: Experiences of Twitter, Twitter Networks, and tweet
content in adults with severe communication disabilities who use augmentative and
alternative communication (AAC). Invited manuscript, Disability & Rehabilitation
Special Issue ‘Social Media and Communication Disability
Index

14. The content styles
Conversation
•Talk to other users
News
•And now the weather
Pass Along
•Here’s one we prepared
elsewhere
Social Presence
•I am here
Broadcast
•There are many opinions
and experiences but this
one is mine
Index

15. Conversational
What?
◦ Using the @ symbol to address another
Why?
◦ Recognise and engage with the people who are talking to you
Nearest Metaphor
◦ Conversations, Q&A
Then what?
◦ conversations can create connections (or disconnections)
Also…
◦ Not all @messages need to be dignified with a response
Index

16. Conversational
Identified by a @statement to address another user
Response
◦ Any tweets which commence or finish with another user’s name and which
do not meet the requirements of the referral category
Referral
◦ @responses containing URLs or recommendation of other Twitter users.
(Excludes RT @user)
Rhetorical Presence
◦ Activities involving other Twitter users, or tweets that describe the presence
of other Twitter users.
Index

17. News
What?
◦ Journalism by the people, for that person’s followers
Why?
◦ We all have stories to tell
Nearest Metaphor
◦ The Channel Nine Commentary box meets Statler and Waldorf
Then what?
◦ Eyewitness coverage leads to conversations and kudos
Also…
◦ If you’ve posted about the conference on #colconf10, you’re soaking in it.
Index

18. News
Identifiable newsworthy content
Journalism
◦ Coverage of live events including factual, descriptive recounts or opinion and social commentary
Real-Time Event
◦ Live discussion of an identifiable event such as a conference, live television or live event collected with or
without a consistent #hashtag.
Press Release
◦ Identifiable announcement of a forthcoming event without URLs to an external source such as timetable
announcements, schedules and session start times
Sport
◦ Identifiable results of sporting events or discussions of sporting performances
Transport
◦ Traffic, transport, flight, road or rail related announcements including accidents and delays
Weather
◦ Report of prevailing weather conditions inclusive of extreme weather events and natural disasters
Index

19. Pass Along
What?
◦ Retweets from within twitter, and links from outside
Why?
◦ Sharing is caring
Nearest Metaphor
◦ “Did you see this article in the newspaper?”
◦ So anyway, they said “…”
Then what?
◦ We assume that you want everyone else following you to know about this
idea / piece of media / tweet
Also…
◦ “Retweet is not endorsement” still shares that content
Index

20. Pass along
Tweets as curation of content
Annotated Media
◦ Tweets that are captions for media hosted on Twitter
Curation
◦ Posting of third party content for followers via the Twitter URL (t.co) or other
URL.
Offline source
◦ Tweet that contains a reference in APA, Oxford or Harvard format, or a statement
in inverted commas to denote a quotation from a third party, speaker or source
material
Retweets
◦ Partial or full reproduction of another tweet marked with “RT”, “retweet”, “MT”
or “modified tweet”
Index

21. Social Presence
What?
◦ Just letting people know you still have the account
Why?
◦ Human bonding.
Nearest Metaphor
◦ That wave you give a colleague to acknowledge you’re both in the same
corridor
Then what?
◦ Anything you feel like, you’re back on the grid
Also…
◦ Covers pocket tweets and cat-on-keyboard events
Index

22. Social Presence
Messages of connected presence
Ceremonial Greetings
◦ Tweets where the community is addressed indirectly as a whole with the greeting
or statements of gratitude
Fourth wall
◦ Textual equivalent of comments made directly to the camera for an imagined
audience
Self-referential commentary
◦ Tweets directed by the author to themselves through “Note to self” “FYI” or “Just
for the record” and function as thought bubble style comments
Unclassifiable
◦ Catch-all category for cat-on-keyboard input and unclassifiable strings of text
Index

23. Broadcast
What?
◦ First person narration of the day
Why?
◦ Express yourself
Nearest Metaphor
◦ Holding court around the bbq
Then what?
◦ See if anyone wants to continue the chat
Also…
◦ Social media platforms make for great soapboxes
Index

24. Broadcast
Tweets that express the account holder's experiences
Action
◦ The diary of daily life tweets which answer “What are you doing?”
Reflective
◦ Statements that address cognitive or emotive responses that answer “What am I
thinking?” or “What am I feeling?”
Experience
◦ Tweets that relay the physical experience as an answer to “What am I
experiencing?” – includes location, physical sensations, temporal experience and
interaction
Statement
◦ Observation of life, stated opinions and streams of consciousness “What do I
want the world to know?” and “What are my thoughts on a specific topic?”
Index

25. Thinking about Twitter
What do you want to do?
◦ Connect with people?
◦ [Reply, Social Presence]
◦ Tell your story?
◦ News, Broadcast
◦ Share something interesting?
◦ Pass Along
Index

26. Politics
Index
SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE | TWITTER | POLITICAL
MARKETING |POLITICS AND POLITICAL TWITTER |
THE TAKEAWAY

27. Political
Marketing
Index

28. This section is based on
Dann, S and Hughes, A (2012) Political Marketing Redefined: exploring the consequences of stakeholders on
the marketing mix and political consumption, Advances in Consumer Research,
Hughes, A & Dann, S 2011, 'Influences and impacts of personal brand and political brand bi-directional',
Academy of Marketing Conference 2011, University of Liverpool, UK.
Hughes, A and Dann, S. “Australian political marketing: substance backed by style ” in Lees-Marshment, J,
(2009) Global Political Marketing, Taylor-Francis Routledge.
Dann S, and Hughes A, (2008) Australian Political Marketing after Kevin07: Lessons from the 2007 Federal
Election, Monash Business Review, 4 (1) April 2008, DOI: 10.2104/mbr08010
Hughes, A Dann, S and Neale, L (2008) “Exploring the application of Personal Brands and Opinion Leadership in
Political Marketing”, Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Sydney, 1-3 December 2008
Hughes, A and Dann, S (2008) “Customers, consumers, partners, society and the political party: Stakeholders
in Australian Political Marketing”, Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Sydney, 1-3
December 2008
Dann, S. (2008) Political marketing and voter relationship marketing, Australasian Political Science Association
2008 Conference, School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland, 6 – 9 July
2008
Dann, S. Harris, P, Mort, G. Fry, M.L. and Binney W (2007) Reigniting the Fire : A contemporary research agenda
for social, political and non profit marketing, Journal of Public Affairs, 7 pp291-304 DOI: 10.1002/pa.269
Index

29. Political Marketing defined
a set of activities, processes or political institutions used by political
parties, candidates and individuals to create, communicate, deliver and
exchange promises of value between voter-consumers, political party
stakeholders and society at large
Index

30. Criticisms of the approach
Short-termism in policy
Distractions for legislators
A cycle of promise and disappointment which will lead to cynicism amongst
voters
Value is defined subjectively from the market’s viewpoint
Politicians will cease to lead but will follow opinion polls
Image will become more important than substance
Index

31. Weaknesses
Negative advertising
emphasis on undermining credibility of alternative party
focus on “swinging voters” at the expense of “heartland voters”
Assumptions of Loyalty and The Duopoly
Index

32. The political
market place
Index

33. Australian Youth & Politics
International Social Survey Program (ISSP)
◦ 42% of young people (aged 18-29) find voting an important civic duty compared
to 84% for people aged 60+
◦ Young people have lower levels of party identification compared to people aged
60+
But! Youth are more likely:
◦ To sign a petition (47%) than old people (35%).
◦ To boycotted a product (40%) than old people (24%).
◦ Attend a demonstration (6%) than old people (2%).
◦ participated in online political activity (16% to 6%)
◦ visited a political organisations website (40% to 13%).
Is it a negative response to politics or the political parties?
33 Index

34. ACT: Politics and Twitter
Name Party Electorate Term in office Handle URL
Andrew Barr ALP Molonglo 2006–present ABarrMLA https://twitter.com/ABarrMLA
Yvette Berry ALP Ginninderra 2012–present YvetteSBerry https://twitter.com/YvetteSBerry
Chris Bourke ALP Ginninderra 2011–present chrisbourke https://twitter.com/chrisbourke
Joy Burch ALP Brindabella 2008–present JoyBurchMLA https://twitter.com/JoyBurchMLA
Alistair Coe Liberal Ginninderra 2008–present alistair_coe https://twitter.com/alistair_coe
Simon Corbell ALP Molonglo 1996–present SimonCorbell https://twitter.com/SimonCorbell
Steve Doszpot Liberal Brindabella 2008–present DoszpotMLA https://twitter.com/DoszpotMLA
Vicki Dunne Liberal Ginninderra 2001–present VickiDunneMLA https://twitter.com/VickiDunneMLA
Katy Gallagher ALP Molonglo 2001–present KatyG_ACT https://twitter.com/KatyG_ACT
Mick Gentleman ALP Brindabella 2004–2008, 2012–present GENTLEMANMick https://twitter.com/GENTLEMANMick
Jeremy Hanson Liberal Molonglo 2008–present JeremyHansonMLA https://twitter.com/JeremyHansonMLA
Giulia Jones Liberal Molonglo 2012–present GiuliaJonesMLA https://twitter.com/GiuliaJonesMLA
Nicole Lawder [1] Liberal Brindabella 2013–present nicolelawder https://twitter.com/nicolelawder
Mary Porter ALP Ginninderra 2004–present MaryPorterMLA https://twitter.com/MaryPorterMLA
Shane Rattenbury Green Molonglo 2008–present ShaneRattenbury https://twitter.com/ShaneRattenbury
Zed Seselja [1] Liberal Brindabella 2004-2013 ZedSeselja https://twitter.com/ZedSeselja
Brendan Smyth Liberal Brindabella 1998–present BrendanSmythMLA https://twitter.com/BrendanSmythMLA
Andrew Wall Liberal Brindabella 2012–present AWallMLA https://twitter.com/AWallMLA
Index

35. ACT Links List
https://twitter.com/ABarrMLA
https://twitter.com/YvetteSBerry
https://twitter.com/chrisbourke
https://twitter.com/JoyBurchMLA
https://twitter.com/alistair_coe
https://twitter.com/SimonCorbell
https://twitter.com/DoszpotMLA
https://twitter.com/VickiDunneMLA
https://twitter.com/KatyG_ACT
https://twitter.com/GENTLEMANMick
https://twitter.com/JeremyHansonMLA
https://twitter.com/GiuliaJonesMLA
https://twitter.com/nicolelawder
https://twitter.com/MaryPorterMLA
https://twitter.com/ShaneRattenbury
https://twitter.com/ZedSeselja
https://twitter.com/BrendanSmythMLA
https://twitter.com/AWallMLA
Index

36. Political Twitter
#AUSPOL
Index
Social Media Landscape | Twitter | Political Marketing
|Politics and Political Twitter | The Takeaway

37. #auspol
#auspol, #qldpol, and #wapol: Twitter and the new Australian political
commentariat
Tim Highfield, Axel Bruns, and Stephen Harrington | Mapping Online
Publics
◦ http://timhighfield.net/?page_id=339
Index

38. The WA Senate Reelection
Social media use in Australia by political parties
◦ Suddenly, Senate Re-Election
The second most fun data collection event ever
◦ 77 candidates
◦ 31 Twitter handles
◦ 27 active(ish) Twitter users
◦ 20 weeks of data
◦ 1 very sad state of affairs.
Index

39. The Method
Content Analysis
Public Timelines
Secondary Data
20 week capture period
◦ 10 weeks prior to the election
◦ 10 weeks post election
The Plan
◦ benchmark set of behaviours
◦ Divide into 5 week blocks
◦ Code into Content Classification
◦ Find differences
◦ Elected/Not Elected
◦ Election Period / Reality
◦ Block 1 and Block 4
◦ Write nifty paper
◦ Tell a great story
Index

40. WA Twitter Data (20 weeks)
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Pass along 3928 54.6 54.6 54.6
Conversational 2773 38.5 38.5 93.1
News 274 3.8 3.8 96.9
Broadcast 190 2.6 2.6 99.5
Social Presence 34 0.5 0.5 100
Total 7199 100 100
27 Candidates. 20 weeks.
Index

41. Election Day Tweeting
Conversationa
l News Pass along Status
Pirate Party 8 3 9 0
Unnamed Ticket 7 2 60 1
The Greens (WA) 6 4 12 0
#Sustainable Population Party 4 0 8 0
The Nationals 4 2 12 1
Australian Labor Party 3 1 12 0
Liberal 1 0 1 1
Socialist Alliance 1 0 2 0
Voluntary Euthanasia Party 0 0 3 0
Total 34 12 119 3
Index

42. Context #2: QLD Election
In which our presenter breaks the data collection equipment…
◦ Only the sitting members, not all candidates
◦ 65 Twitter handles
◦ 50 active(ish) Twitter users
◦ 4 weeks of data
◦ 1 paradox of social media.
Index

43. The Paradox
Index

44. Context #3: ACT MLA
The Canberra Connection
◦ 18 Twitter handles
◦ 17 active(ish) Twitter users
◦ 1 week of data
◦ 1 sense of hope
Index

45. Basic Data
Name Handle Tweets Following Followers Favorites Lists Brand_hdr Brand_pht Brand_pro
Party
name
Andrew Barr ABarrMLA 10900 1891 6851 356 7 0 0 0 0
Alistair Coe alistair_coe 1041 1160 2158 58 0 0 0 0 0
Andrew Wall AWallMLA 158 263 483 0 0 0 0 1 1
Brendan Smyth BrendanSmythMLA 34 127 652 0 0 0 0 1 1
Chris Bourke chrisbourke 4137 408 1675 15 0 0 0 0 0
Steve Doszpot DoszpotMLA 269 821 801 2 0 0 0 1 1
Mick Gentleman GENTLEMANMick 1088 622 1002 52 0 1 0 1 1
Giulia Jones GiuliaJonesMLA 0 10 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jeremy Hanson JeremyHansonMLA 939 561 1680 337 4 0 0 0 0
Joy Burch JoyBurchMLA 1655 405 2751 1 4 0 1 0 1
Katy Gallagher KatyG_ACT 6068 935 13400 202 0 0 0 0 0
Mary Porter MaryPorterMLA 783 133 912 23 0 0 0 0 0
Nicole Lawder [1] nicolelawder 5045 666 1011 151 0 0 0 0 0
Shane Rattenbury ShaneRattenbury 2275 1243 3411 47 1 0 0 1 1
Simon Corbell SimonCorbell 3160 1028 3887 30 2 0 0 0 0
Vicki Dunne VickiDunneMLA 215 162 678 4 0 0 0 1 1
Yvette Berry YvetteSBerry 5097 735 1264 449 7 0 0 1 1
Zed Seselja [1] ZedSeselja 1500 586 2632 41 0 0 0 1 1
Brand_hdr: Does the party name appear in the Twitter header photo?
Brand_pht: Does the party name appear in the Twitter profile photo?
Brand_prof: Is the name of the party mentioned in the Twitter bio?
Party Name: Is the name of the party mentioned at all?
Index

46. Humans…
Index

47. Humans…
Index

48. How can Twitter be used?
Character opportunities
◦ provision of insight into the candidate,
◦ information for the followers
◦ direct engagement with an audience.
Message opportunities
◦ Promise management
◦ Embodying the party values
Index

49. Take away section
SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE | TWITTER | POLITICAL
MARKETING |POLITICS AND POLITICAL TWITTER |
THE TAKEAWAY
Index

50. Post event
Running a basic tweet analysis
◦ How to get data
◦ What to do with it
Political messages
◦ Stakeholder Analysis
Index

51. Running a basic
tweet analysis
Index

52. How to get the data
Option 1: http://twdocs.com/
◦ There are prices involved
Option 2:
◦ If you use Chrome, install “Kwitty”
◦ There is a help function for exporting tweets
◦ How to export/backup tweets?
◦ 1. Click "Export" in a user tab.
◦ 2. Wait the exporting progress to 100%.
◦ 3. Save the exported page as (all content) a single local file.
Index

53. Kwitty
Index

54. How to Capture
Load Kwitty
Search for the desired user
Click Export
Copy the page into Excel
Index

55. Kwitty
How to export/backup tweets?
1. Click "Export" in a user tab.
2. Wait the exporting progress to 100%.
3. Save the exported page as (all content) a single local file.
Index

56. Now what?
From the data
◦ Take the column of text and put it into a tag cloud
◦ Sort by tweet content and count the @replies, retweets, original tweets and
links
◦ What is the main type of message?
◦ When do the tweets get published?
◦ Is there a difference between tweets by phone or tweets by computer?
Index

57. Meta Data
Tweet Date Via
Coming up @1.30pm in MCC theatre 6 Intro to
Finance presentation. Learn more about the study
pathway you might take when you join #ANUCBE
1:20:09 PM, 8-30,
2014 Hootsuite
Index

58. Meta Data
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Twitter for iPhone 364 360 402 483 279 324 355
Web 289 395 397 271 359 252 252
Twitter for Android 154 227 224 136 186 153 135
Twitter for iPad 28 21 23 39 24 22 26
Instagram on iOS 7 10 6 16 15 23 22
Index

59. Tag Clouds
Index

60. Stakeholder
Analysis
Index

61. The Message Mantra
Why this message?
◦ …at this time?
◦ …from this person?
What response should they expect?
Which stakeholder are they addressing?
Index

62. Stakeholders
Stakeholder Target group Type Source of influence
Alternative Political
Providers
Party
stakeholders
Switch Legitimacy or Urgency
Electoral commission society Active Power and Legitimacy/Urgency
Industry Lobby Groups Party
stakeholders
Active Legitimacy / Urgency plus varying
Power
Issue Competitors Party
stakeholders
Switch Power or Legitimacy or Urgency
Media society Active Power and Urgency and/or
Legitimacy
Party Donors Party
stakeholder
Active Power / Legitimacy
Index

63. Stakeholders
Stakeholder Target group Type Source of influence
Alternative Political Providers Party stakeholders Switch Legitimacy or Urgency
Electoral commission society Active Power and Legitimacy/Urgency
Government (parliament) society Passive Power and Legitimacy
Government (public service) society Passive Legitimacy
Industry Lobby Groups Party stakeholders Active Legitimacy / Urgency plus varying Power
Issue Competitors Party stakeholders Switch Power or Legitimacy or Urgency
Media society Active Power and Urgency and/or Legitimacy
Party Donors Party stakeholder Active Power / Legitimacy
Party members and supporters Party stakeholder Active Power and Legitimacy
Political candidates Party stakeholders Active Legitimacy and Urgency and/or Power
Political opponents Party stakeholder Active Urgency
Private lobbyists Party stakeholders Active Legitimacy and varying Power and Urgency
Social pressure lobby groups Party stakeholders Switch Varying levels of Legitimacy and / or Urgency and / or Power
Society / citizens / community society Passive Legitimacy
Splinter Interest Groups society Switch Power / Urgency
Voters (between elections) Voter-consumer Switch Legitimacy
Voters (election time) Voter-consumer Switch Power and/or Urgency and/or Legitimacy
Index

64. Questions?
@STEPHENDANN | STEPHEN.DANN@ANU.EDU.AU
Index