Paper presented at the ECREA 2012 conference, Istanbul, 26 Oct. 2012.

1. Political Networks on Twitter:
Tweeting the Queensland State
Election
Axel Bruns, Stephen Harrington, and Tim Highfield
Queensland University of Technology
Brisbane, Australia
@snurb_dot_info | @_StephenH | @timhighfield
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

2. THE 2012 QUEENSLAND STATE ELECTION
• Main contestants:
– Australian Labor Party (ALP), led by Premier Anna Bligh
– Liberal / National Party (LNP), led by Campbell Newman
– Australian Greens
– Katter’s Australian Party
• Key Dates:
– 19 Feb. 2012: election called by Governor of Queensland
– 24 March 2012: election day

3. TWITTER AND THE ELECTION
• Twitter and Australian politics:
– Day-to-day discussion dominated by small group (#auspol)
– Substantial, broad use in 2010 federal election (#ausvotes)
– #ausvotes activity focussed around election day itself
– By now, significant number of accounts by politicians and parties
• Twitter and the Queensland election:
– Substantial number of candidate accounts
– Few accounts with significant activity during campaign
– Indicative of party directives to candidates to create accounts?
– Limited use of relevant hashtags (#qldvotes, #qldpol)

4. #AUSPOL
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
colour = #auspol tweets, size = indegree

5. #AUSVOTES
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
colour = #ausvotes tweets, size = indegree

6. #QLDPOL
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
colour = #qldpol tweets, size = indegree

7. #QLDVOTES
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
colour = #qldvotes tweets, size = indegree

8. CANDIDATE ACTIVITIES: TWEETS SENT

9. TWEETING STYLES OF MAJOR ACCOUNTS

10. THE REAL
CAMPBELL?
• 5 March 2012:
• Newman sets up
‘personal’
@CD_Track
account
(Can Do on Track)
• Discontinued after
ten tweets

11. CANDIDATE ACTIVITIES: TWEETS RECEIVED

12. (indegree 10+, edge colour = target)

13. CANDIDATE NETWORKS

14. CANDIDATE NETWORKS

15. CONCLUSIONS
• Twitter in the 2012 Queensland state election:
– Substantial push to get candidates tweeting, but mixed take-up
– Clear differences in tweeting styles: PR vs. engagement
– ALP significantly more active than LNP
– Candidate interaction divided by party lines, with few exceptions:
talking about, not to, opponents; supporting leader and party
– Strong take-up by voters: substantial @mentions of accounts
– Focus mainly on leading (and problem) candidates
– But: few genuine conversations between candidates and voters
• Consider the context:
– Landslide election, long foreseen – no need for LNP to engage
– Social media use may be very different in tight contests

16. http://mappingonlinepublics.net/
@snurb_dot_info
@jeanburgess
@_StephenH
@DrTNitins
@timhighfield
@cdtavijit