Paper by Axel Bruns, Tim Highfield, and Theresa Sauter, presented at the Association of Internet Researchers conference, Denver, 24 Oct. 2013.

1. #ausvotes Mark Two: Twitter in the
2013 Australian Federal Election
Axel 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/

2. 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.

3. 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:
•
4 Aug. – 7 Sep. 2013: 2013 Australian federal election campaign
•
Sep. 2013:
Kevin Rudd wins leadership challenge, becomes PM again, calls election
Tony Abbott wins the federal election

4. THE SOCIAL MEDIA PM?

5. TWITTER FOR CAMPAIGNING

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

7. @TONYABBOTTMHR’S FAKE FOLLOWERS
(11/12 Aug. 2013)

8. 40000
4/08/2013
5/08/2013
6/08/2013
7/08/2013
8/08/2013
9/08/2013
10/08/2013
11/08/2013
12/08/2013
13/08/2013
14/08/2013
15/08/2013
16/08/2013
17/08/2013
18/08/2013
19/08/2013
20/08/2013
21/08/2013
22/08/2013
23/08/2013
24/08/2013
25/08/2013
26/08/2013
27/08/2013
28/08/2013
29/08/2013
30/08/2013
31/08/2013
1/09/2013
2/09/2013
3/09/2013
4/09/2013
5/09/2013
6/09/2013
7/09/2013
8/09/2013
#AUSVOTES DURING THE CAMPAIGN
120000
100000
Election day
80000
Labor campaign
‘launch’
60000
Sum of retweets
TV debates
20000
0
Sum of genuine @replies
Sum of original tweets

9. 2013-Sep-07 23
2013-Sep-07 22
2013-Sep-07 21
2013-Sep-07 20
2013-Sep-07 19
2013-Sep-07 18
2013-Sep-07 17
16000
2013-Sep-07 16
2013-Sep-07 15
12000
2013-Sep-07 14
2013-Sep-07 13
2013-Sep-07 12
2013-Sep-07 11
2013-Sep-07 10
2013-Sep-07 09
2013-Sep-07 08
2013-Sep-07 07
8000
2013-Sep-07 06
2013-Sep-07 05
2013-Sep-07 04
2013-Sep-07 03
2013-Sep-07 02
2013-Sep-07 01
2013-Sep-07 00
#AUSVOTES ON ELECTION DAY
18000
Abbott’s victory
speech
14000
Polls close
(eastern states)
10000
Polls open
(eastern states)
Sum of retweets
6000
Sum of genuine @replies
Sum of original tweets
4000
2000
0

10. @MENTIONS OF LEADERS
(@REPLIES + RETWEETS)
TV debates
Abbott ‘sex appeal’
comments
Labor campaign
‘launch’

11. RETWEETS OF LEADERS

12. TWEETS BY LEADERS

13. TWEETS BY PARTY CANDIDATES

14. TWITTER FOR
DISCUSSING THE LEADERS

15. @MENTIONS OF LEADERS

16. @MENTIONS OF PARTY CANDIDATES
( @ K R U D D M P A N D @ T O N YA B B O T T M H R R E M O V E D )

17. @MENTIONS (ALL USERS)

18. RETWEETS
(ALL USERS)
Pirates
Labor
WikiLeaks
Greens
Palmer
Katter +
Nationals
Liberals

19. @MENTIONS BETWEEN POLITICIANS

20. RETWEETS
BETWEEN POLITICIANS

21. @MENTIONS OF LOCAL CANDIDATES

22. 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?

23. http://mappingonlinepublics.net/
@snurb_dot_info
@timhighfield
@lena_sauter
@jeanburgess
@dpwoodford
@_StephenH
@quods
@socialmediaQUT