Introduction
Twitter has started coming into its own during 2010, and last month announced that it had passed the total of one hundred million users worldwide. In the run-up to the General Election there were indications from most of the main parties that social media were going to feature strongly in the campaign.
In the event, much has been made of the medium. Candidates have been sacked for making inappropriate postings, and the BBC in particular focused on Twitter when gauging audience reaction to the live Leaders' Debates. Given the interactive nature of the medium, too, it is no surprise to see it being used by the public to highlight issues that were felt to deserve mainstream attention, such as the views of Conservative candidate Philippa Stroud.
The study
We studied the use of Twitter by candidates in the elections a year ago for the European parliament; across Wales we found that the takeup this medium was limited to just a few candidates, who in turn did little to engage with their audiences. This year the medium has been used extensively, by all of the main parties. More importantly it has often been used effectively – to talk and to listen.
There were around 270 candidates standing for election across 40 constituencies in Wales. Of these, over 60 had Twitter feeds. The activity varied enormously: some candidates never used their accounts, while others (such as Rene Kinzett in Swansea and Heledd Fychan in Montgomery) were using the channel several times a day. The active users engaged in Q&A with voters, talked about their families, commented on the news and the TV debates, and generally added a new dimension to the campaign. Typically the active 'Tweeters' had several hundred people following them on Twitter.
Our evaluation of the candidates' use of Twitter went beyond what they were saying and how many people were receiving the messages: we also took into account how many people the candidates were 'following' at the same time – people and organizations whose views the candidates were interested in.
The Parties
Of the parties, the most active is Plaid Cymru, where over half of the candidates were using Twitter. Of these we assessed four to be in the top ten users in Wales during the campaign. These were Heledd Fychan (Montgomery), Caryl Wyn Jones (Vale of Clwyd), Ian Johnson (Vale of Glamorgan) and Myfanwy Davies (Llanelli). The large number of Plaid users can be misleading, though: four of their candidates had Twitter accounts but didn't use them at all during the campaign, and a similar number were only occasional users. Fychan and Jones were both very effective communicators, using a mixture of comment, pictures, videos and cross links to other web pages. The active Plaid users engaged with their audience, answering questions and taking part in debate.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats also had a comparatively strong presence in Twitter with a third of their candidates registered to use it. Three of these featured in our top ten for Wales, including Matt Smith (Blaenau Gwent), John Dixon (Cardiff North) and Amy Kitcher (Merthyr). Once again, though, there were variations: 3 of their nominal Twitterers didn't use the medium at all during the campaign – including, surprisingly, MP Lembit Opik who had the advantage of a very large audience already built up. Once again, the Liberal Democrats used Twitter to build an element of urgency and excitement into their campaigns, highlighting local issues and events that were happening on the ground.
Just one third of Labour's candidates in the election were signed up to Twitter. The most active users were three sitting Members, Chris Bryant (Rhondda), Julie Morgan (Cardiff North) and Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West). Only Bryant made it into the overall Wales top ten, though, with a mixture of news, view, pictures and chat. Five other Labour MP were represented on Twitter, but their efforts and those of other Labour candidates were less noteworthy than what was achieved by Bryant. Several candidates failed to use their Twitter accounts at all, including Merthyr MP Dai Havard.
The Conservatives had a total Twitter star on their books in Wales. Rene Kinzett (Swansea West) posted more messages than any other candidate during the campaign, a mixture of views, links, news and debate. As a result he was able to build up an audience of over 800 by voting day, more than any other candidate apart from sitting MPs. Overall, though, the Conservatives seemed lukewarm about Twitter, with less than a quarter of their candidates signing up for it. Prior to the formal Election campaign starting, there were indications from Conservative headquarters that the messages going out on Twitter would be tightly controlled, but we saw no real evidence of this. Most of the traffic seemed to be fairly spontaneous and authentic. In Delyn the Conservative candidate Antoinette Sandbach engaged well with the constituency, as did David Jones who was defending Clwyd West for the party.
The UK Independence Party fielded candidates in all of the Welsh constituencies, but only one popped up on Twitter, and then only briefly. The British National Party was contesting half of the seats, but none of their candidates appeared to be online in this way. The Greens did have a presence, with three candidates Twittering, as were three independents. Of these, George Burke (Cardiff South & Penarth) seemed to have found his voice.
Across Wales the picture was quite varied. In Wrexham all of the candidates bar one seemed to be using Twitter. This was uncommon, though. There were eight constituencies where there was no Twittering at all, including Torfaen where nine candidates were standing.
The future for Twitter
For those candidates who were successful, what does the future hold? As we have seen, many outgoing MPs have been using Twitter for some time to maintain contact with the voters. In Wales several Assembly members are active in the medium, particularly Bethan Jenkins (Plaid Cymru), Peter Black (Liberal Democrat) and Jonathan Morgan (Conservative). These AMs are able to get across to the voters of Wales just how busy and varied their lives can be. For our future representatives, Twitter represents a new way to engage with democracy – for the whole of the parliament, not just for a few weeks of campaigning.
The study has been carried out in Wales by Robin Croft (Principal Lecturer, University of Glamorgan Business School), and in Yorkshire by Dianne Dean (Senior Lecturer, University of Hull Business School). The findings of this study and the research completed in the European Elections are due to be presented at a conference of the Political Marketing Association in Thessaloniki, Greece, in September.
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