Brown dominates online election discussion

Starcom MediaVest Group’s analysis of online conversations surrounding the election debates shows that  Gordon Brown has gradually attracted the most online buzz with a 38% share of discussion – achieving a high share of both negative and positive comments.

The data shows how discussions on social media networks developed and changed in terms of attitudes towards the party leaders from the airing of the first election debate up until midnight on Monday 3 May.

The analysis is based on data from over 1 million UK blogs, sites, forums, and social networks (including Twitter feeds and Facebook). The data was supplied by Whitevector.

Analysis highlights:

• Clegg the overall winner of online conversation: overall, for the period since the 1st debate until midnight on 3 May, Clegg won a 40% share of all comments with a positive sentiment.

• Brown beats Cameron to second place with 35% of all positive comments, versus Cameron’s share of 25%. However, Brown is also the most likely to receive negative comments, with a 40% share of all comments with a negative sentiment (ahead of Clegg on 31% and Cameron on 26%)

By leader:

• Nick Clegg dominated levels of online discussion (threads), with a 39% share, up until the second debate and had a 50% share of all comments towards the three leaders which had a positive sentiment attached. However the level of discussion around Clegg has dropped over time.

• David Cameron has perhaps been the most consistent of the three leaders. His overall share of discussions has remained just below the 30% mark during the week following each debate (4 day period after the 3rd debate).

• After starting slowly, Gordon Brown has seen the level of discussion around him increase – beginning with 33% share of discussion after week one but ending with a share of 44% during the period since the third and final debate.

Simon Stanforth, group research director, Starcom MediaVest Group, said: “We are seeing a clear difference in online sentiment towards the leaders versus the polls. It will be interesting to see if online discussions provide a more accurate reflection of people’s voting intentions, and perhaps Brown performing more strongly than the polls are predicting.

“What is certainly clear is that the debates have driven significant online discussion and helped shape sentiment of the online electorate.”