Peace, Order & Googleable Governmentdigitalpublicaffairs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/... · Marketwire/Sysomos Heartbeat. TOP SIX ISSUES Peace, Order and Googleable Government September

Peace, Order & Googleable GovernmentA look at what MPs tweeted about the six political issues most discussed on Twitter during the summer recess.

September 21, 2012

INTRODUCTION

Peace, Order and Googleable Government September 2012 1

Twitter continues to gain media attention. It’s been credited for playing an important role in breaking news, emergency communication and relief efforts, coordinating protests and causing people public embarrassment. With each time it makes news, Twitter draws out its critics - a mix of people who have abandoned the service for one reason or another, and those who formed opinions without first hand experience.

Analysts and journalists are partly to blame. We often report on volumes of tweets near-impossible for a single individual to follow. That's not the way Twitter is meant to be used. Twitter is a tool for people to communicate in small groups; communities of interest within the whole. You wouldn’t go to Twitter to speak with the masses about your interests any more than you would go to a baseball stadium and expect to interact with everyone in the stands about the ballgame and your day at the office.

However, the volume of tweets has become extremely valuable. Taken as a whole, it provides a lot of information. For example, how many people are talking? Who are they? What are they saying? About what? About who? How far is the chatter reaching?

Chatter is a fitting word for most of the activity. This is not meant to be disrespectful. Rather, it’s a recognition that a relatively small portion of tweets represent conversation; a real exchange.

It’s the nuance of the chatter (as much nuance as can be afforded in 140 characters) that causes analysts to take notice. We have come to realize there is often more information in a tweet than can be gleaned from a sliding scale question in a telephone poll conducted during the dinner hour.

Twitter has become a real-time focus group.

Just as political conversations emanate from the epicentre of Parliament Hill (which includes politicians, staffers, pundits, journalists, etc...), the political conversation emanates from an epicentre on Twitter. In fact, it involves many of the same folks on The Hill. Measuring the spread of commentary beyond the epicentre helps identify the issues that matter most to the public.

There are many datasets to consider. Indeed, choosing a limited set to study for this report posed to be a challenge. With the resumption of Parliament, it was decided to examine what MPs had to say about the six political issues most discussed online by the public during the summer recess.

Did MPs remain engaged? Were they in tune with what the Twitterati was talking about?

Data gathering and analysis was performed using Marketwire/Sysomos Heartbeat.

http://www.sysomos.com/products/overview/heartbeat/


TOP SIX ISSUES


Canadians categorized 500,349 of their tweets as relating to Canadian politics during the political off-season, June 24 through September 15, 2012. By contrast, Canadians categorized 1,093,483 tweets for Canadian politics during the last sitting of Parliament (January 30 through June 23, 2012).

Categorizing is done through a hashtag - a descriptive keyword preceded by the number sign, ‘#.' Hashtags help Twitter users find and organize tweets on themes identified by the keyword. The #cdnpoli hashtag is generally accepted to identify tweets related to Canadian politics.

Analysis of these tweets uncovered a full range of political issues along with a variety of well-tweeted online protests including #DenounceHarper1 and #DeathofEvidence2. For the this report, #DenounceHarper was treated as agnostic rather than as a unique issue, and thus left out of the analysis.

Issues were categorized using groupings of relevant keywords and a comparison revealed the six political issues most-tweeted by the public. In all, 12,329 unique sources contributed to the top six, accounting for 79,351 tweets, or 17% of the #cdnpoli chatter over the summer.

Oil & NGP

Crime

Science

Health

Environment

Robocalls

0 17500 35000

8,195

8,732

8,839

11,191

13,755

34,532

Six most-tweeted #cdnpoli issues by Canadians (Jun 24-Sep 15, 2012)

MP TWEETS


MPs from the Conservative Party (CPC), New Democratic Party (NDP), Liberal Party (LPC) and Green Party (GPC) combined to issue 22,991 tweets this summer. (57,461 during the last session of Parliament) The Bloc Québecois issued none.

Like the public, MPs covered a variety of topics including barbecues, community fundraising activities and especially the Olympic games.

It wasn’t all social, though. There was still a healthy amount of rhetoric and message track, and language choice was clearly aligned to party talking points. MPs covered many of the ongoing political issues as well as a few surprise issues that came and went during the summer months. They also had something to say on the issues the public most actively discussed.

In fact, five of the six most tweeted issues by MPs coincide with the public list, even though the sequence is different. For MPs, immigration was more important than robocalls.

@DenisCoderre

@Carolyn_Bennett

@ElizabethMay

@MarcGarneau

@KenneyJason

@MinRonaAmbrose

@WoodworthMP

@KirstyDuncanMP

@JamesMoore_org

@BradButtMP

0 850 1700

429

440

443

501

505

512

573

862

1,276

1,682

Top 10 most-active tweeting MPs (Jun 24-Sep 15, 2012)

Health

Oil-NGP

Science

Crime

Immigration

Environment

0 160 320

129

142

189

211

303

312

Six most-tweeted #cdnpoli issues by MPs (Jun 24-Sep 15, 2012)


Top 6 issues

Each graphic in this section identifies the following:•Central issue•Share of the chatter for each party•Main theme for each party•The number of mentions (total number of tweets, retweets and replies)•The number of sources (participating MPs)


THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY

OIL-NGP

11%

9%

71%

9%

ENBRIDGESAFETYCONCERNS

ENBRIDGESPILL

HELICOPTERTOUR

DECEPTIVE NGPMARKETING

BY ENBRIDGE

36 MENTIONS (13 SOURCES)THE LIBERAL PARTY 26 MENTIONS (7 SOURCES)THE GREEN PARTY 26 MENTIONS (1 SOURCE)

THE NDP216 MENTIONS (29 SOURCES)

All opposition parties were critical of the Enbridge pipeline leak in Wisconsin, the company’s safety record and “deceptive” marketing of the NGP. They also issued and amplified tweets critical of Government tactics to accelerate the NGP project. This was largely an NDP-championed issue.

Conservative MPs tweeted and shared photos during a June 11 helicopter tour of the oil sands, promoted oil sands innovation and job opportunities. Brad Butt retweeted a Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) tweet which included the hashtag #tarsands, language the Conservative party has been avoiding.


THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY 78 MENTIONS (30 SOURCES)

THE LIBERAL PARTY 40 MENTIONS (12 SOURCES)THE GREEN PARTY 6 MENTIONS (1 SOURCE)

THE NDP 65 MENTIONS (26 SOURCES)

CRIME

41%

34%

3%

21%

SHOOTING ATSIKH TEMPLE IN WISCONSIN

SHOOTINGIN MONTREAL

LONG GUNREGISTRY

SHOOTING AT COLORADO

THEATRE

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the analysis was in the crime category. The July 16 shooting at a Scarborough street party received almost no attention from the Liberals and Conservatives (1 tweet each). Certainly not compared to the number of tweets and the sentiment regarding the shootings at the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin (24) or the movie theatre in Colorado (5).

The NDP were more vocal about Scarborough (8) than Wisconsin (5) and didn’t mention Colorado. The September 4 shooting in Montreal drew out more NDP tweets (12).

The Greens issued 6 tweets, all replies, with particular attention to the Long Gun Registry and crime policy.

The Conservative announcement that the National Crime Prevention Centre is now accepting applications was a welcome change from reports of violence.


THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY11 MENTIONS (8 SOURCES)



SCIENCE ROLE OFSCIENTISTSPOST C-38

31%

MOTION 3125%16%

48%

CLIMATECHANGE

DEATHOFEVIDENCE

The July 10 Death of Evidence rally provided a focus for many of the science related tweets. All three opposition parties had plenty to say related to the event and the policy decision that inspired it.

The NDP and Liberals also tweeted about on an article in Canada’s Budget Science magazine which identifies negative effects of Bill C-38 on the science community.

Among Conservative tweets were mentions of Canadian technology aboard the Mars Curiosity rover, a ribbon cutting ceremony and two tweets mentioning Motion 312. Stephen Woodworth engaged in an exchanged about science funding and politics, referencing his 40 years of political involvement.

Most of the Green tweets were retweets of content published by others.


The Conservatives fared better in this category. They had some good news to share including funding for a national transplant research program and fundraising events for community healthcare and mental healthcare facilities. They also responded to criticism about changes to refugee medical benefits.

Along with criticizing the Government for its changes to refugee medical benefits and continued delays in approving clinical trials for CCSVI treatment, the NDP and Liberals boasted spikes in tweets related to the CMA conference and that organization’s criticisms of federal health policy. The NDP also called for a National Day of Action to a 2014 Health Accord and zinged Jason Kenney for his self-congratulatory petition.

The Green’s most notable tweets covered legalization and regulation of marijuana, and federal policy on asbestos.




HEALTH

29% 49%

20%

2%LEGALIZATION AND REGULATION

OF MARIJUANA

CUTS TO REFUGEE HEALTH

BENEFITS

CHANGES TO REFUGEE HEALTH

CHANGES TO REFUGEEHEALTH

BENEFITS

BENEFITS




THE NDP 59 MENTIONS (21 SOURCES)

ENVIRONMENTPARKS CANADAISSUES

B.C. ENVIRONMENTTOUR

CUTS TO KEYENVIRONMENTAL

LABORATORY KEEP WEST COAST WATERS

CLEAN

27%

46%

12%

16%

Conservatives tweeted about regulatory frameworks and retweeted “Canada is the only major oil reserve country at the forefront of responsible resource development.”

Opposition parties shared their own messages about Conservative cuts to environmental assessments. Notably, Bob Rae acknowledged “Cons rethinking cancellation of Environmental Lakes Assessment” noting “A tribute to citizen power.”

NDP MPs shared links to several articles critical of Government science policy and expressed concern about a proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.

The Greens focused on cuts to Parks Canada.


MPs generally kept a low profile on the discussion about Robocalls. Of course this is primarily an issue involving two parties, the Conservatives and Liberals.

The Liberals tweeted the most, focusing on the number of reported election robocall complaints and discrepancies between court documents and Elections Canada reports on the size of the resulting investigation.

The Conservatives went a full two months before tweeting about the Robocalls. It wasn’t until August 24, the day a $4,900 fine was levied against Liberal MP Frank Valeriote for robocall infractions that the Conservative was heard. That was all they had to say.

15%




ROBOCALLS

55% 24%6%

COMPLAINTS RISE TO 1,394

LIGHT JESTSREGARDINGPIERRE POUTINE

LIBERAL MP FRANKVALERIOTE HIT WITH$4,900 FINE

COUNCIL OF CANADIANSCHALLENGE OF ELECTIONRESULTS IN 7 RIDINGS


Additional analysis

Further breakdowns of all #cdnpoli and MP tweets from the summer recess: June 24 through September 15, 2012.

GENDER


This chart considers the gender of the tweeter for each tweet. This means 67% of public tweets were issued by males rather than suggesting 67% of the participants as male.

Public

MPs

LANGUAGE


This chart considers the language of each tweet. This means 98% of public tweets were composed in English rather than suggesting 98% of participants as English speaking.

Public

MPs

English

French

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

2%

98%

English

French

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

21%

79%

PROVINCES


This chart considers the originating province of the tweet. This means 45% of public tweets were issued by users identifying themselves as being in Ontario rather than suggesting 45% of participants being in Ontario.

Public

MPs

AB

BC

ON

QC

Other

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

8%

7%

45%

25%

15%

AB

BC

ON

QC

Other

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

8%

19%

44%

19%

10%

TWEET TYPES


Regular tweets

Retweets

Replies

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

9%

58%

33%

This comparison shows MPs tweet more ‘original’ content and the public tends to amplify tweets issued by others. MPs are also more likely to engage in conversation.

Public

MPs Regular tweets

Retweets

Replies

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

21%

26%

53%

Peace, Order & Googleable Government

Report researched and prepared by Full Duplex.

Integrated digital communications, public affairs and researchWeb: http://fullduplex.caPhone: +1-613-762-9704

Author’s blog: http://markblevis.com

Data gathering and analysis was performed using Marketwire/Sysomos Heartbeat.

http://fullduplex.ca

http://fullduplex.ca

http://markblevis.com

http://markblevis.com





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Peace, Order & Googleable Governmentdigitalpublicaffairs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/... · Marketwire/Sysomos Heartbeat. TOP SIX ISSUES Peace, Order and Googleable Government September