The results of the 2017 General Election have come as a shock to the UK; Labour has defied expectations and pre-election opinion polls, leaving the UK with a hung parliament. The huge conversation on social media gives us an insight into opinion, patterns and voter behaviour on a large scale.
We tracked social dialogues and sentiments during the election to get insights in the driving forces behind the changes in the political landscape in the UK, and to see what hidden patterns we can identify within the enormous volumes of related chatter.
For this report, we limited ourselves to Twitter as an information source and all data was collected via our flagship STORY platform on a non-tweaked standard set-up. To capture all relevant Tweets -independent of volume and speed- we used Twitter's/Gnip's Firehose for harvesting.
General Patterns When preparing this we obviously didn't know what was going to happen or what volumes and patterns to expect, so we started by simply tracking a few typical hashtags in the days leading up to the event and kept doing this until the whole circus was over.
The figure below shows the evolution of the usage of hashtag #GE2017 on Twitter from 2 to 8 June with the time in CEST (i.e., UK time + 1:00).
From this figure alone we can already identify some interesting patterns:
Tensions were slowly rising the days before the election. The peak on the night before the election was at least twice as high as a few days earlier and the daily volume had already tripled.
From this picture, it seems as if the London terror attacks on the night from 3-4 June did not affect the elections at all. No special pattern is visible on or immediately after the events.
In the UK, no numbers/predictions are published in the media until the doors of the polling stations have closed, so on election day itself, Twitter volumes were higher than usual, but still very much under control, averaging around 10 Tweets/sec.
This changed dramatically the moment the doors had closed and the first exit polls were published, predicting a disastrous outcome for the Conservative party. Within seconds, Twitter volumes Skyrocketed and when scrutinising the feeds, we found individual seconds with over 200 election-related Tweets. The average volume over the first full hour after closing time was 3 times that of the hour before.
The impact of the first predictions was so large that Twitter even forgot to go to bed: the usual day-night pattern was completely distorted and it took another 24 hour for a normal UK night to set in again.
We found it hard to believe that the London terror attacks had no effect on people's sentiment around the elections, so we dug into this a little deeper. We correlated #GE2017 occurrences with various other keywords and found the following interesting pattern when looking for enough or resign among the #GE2017 Tweets:
Clearly, sentiments trended on at least 3 occasions, not seen in the global patterns:
On Sunday 4 June enough occurrences had a sharp peak and after little investigation, we found that this was the direct result of just 1 Tweet going viral, namely this one: WATCH: Police have had enough and accuse Theresa May of outright lies. Tory cuts have made us all less safe #GE2017 pic.twitter.com/sqTrKEJq88
- Scott Nelson (@SocialistVoice) June 4, 2017 Remarkably and unexpectedly, this Tweet was Retweeted faster and more often than people quoted Theresa May's own Enough is enough statement.
On Monday 5 June resign suddenly trended, and this turned out to be the direct result of Corbyn's statement where he asked for May's resignation and accused her of cutting police budgets while she was home secretary. Jeremy Corbyn says he would back calls for Theresa May to resign over cuts in police numbers https://t.co/iyjwAVrmJc #GE2017 pic.twitter.com/iF5hV65JTv
- BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) June 5, 2017
On Friday 9 June resign trended again for almost the complete day: immediately after the first exit polls were made public, around her speech for winning her district, the moment the first morning news shows were broadcast on radio/TV and finally around lunch when she announced not to step down and to form a coalition.
It is remarkable that individual Tweets with such an enormous impact can start to trend so suddenly and be shared on a large scale so quickly (we're talking minutes here). There lies enormous value in having the right toolset so that key events such as these can be identified at an early stage, while still having sufficient time for analysis and/or appropriate actions. Obviously appropriate actions' may mean something completely different for a journalist, a TV producer or a political campaign leader
Patterns in Party Loyalty We also tracked social volumes attributed to explicit support of one of the participating parties. For each political party, we monitored occurrences of #Vote
, where is either the party name/abbreviation (e.g. #VoteLabour) or the party's main candidate (e.g. #VoteMay), and of course various variations and alternative spellings. For a culture that's known and often praised for its reserved nature, people in the UK turned out to surprisingly forthcoming when it came to sharing their political support online. This led to a steady flux throughout the day of 10 Tweets/sec in which people called out their support.
The pattern found while tracking specific party loyalty this was extremely one-sided, see the figures below:
Three conclusions are obvious:
Labour (pink) was leading the social arena, with no other party coming even close. In fact, each other party collected less than 10% of Labour's volume and added together the others didn't even reach 25% of Labour.
Although being the leading party when it comes to the popular vote, the Conservatives
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
06/05/2024
By Ilyse McKimmie
Now, more than ever
That's a phrase so often used in the last few years that I've come to dread seeing it in notes like this one. A...
06/05/2024
alt= class=wp-image-12099 data-lazy-src=/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Blog-Exabyte-Storage-Demand-960x540-1.jpg/> Demand for storage solutions has reached unprece...
06/05/2024
Around the world, Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists continue to impact mu...
06/05/2024
Spotify is making it easier for booklovers to count down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until a new audiobook releases. With Countdown Pages for audioboo...
06/05/2024
Get Ready to join Dan Hong as he hits the streets in his ultimate culinary journ...
06/05/2024
In this video, cinematographer Simon Rowling welcomes viewers behind the scenes as he lights a daytime-interior scene inside a coffee shop. Shooting on Panavisi...
06/05/2024
L3Harris is well positioned to support the complex and multifaceted nature of special operations forces in all domains through our agile and responsive technolo...
06/05/2024
OAKVILLE, Ontario As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, Alert Ready, Canadas national public alerting system, will be distributing a test alert to Canadians i...
06/05/2024
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. Horowitz Research has released a new study on the viewing and media habits of U.S. Hispanic/Latine audiences that shows a dramatic decline in...
06/05/2024
RE:Vision Effects Autograph 2024.4 released! 50% Off Through May 9th
Brie Clayton May 6, 2024
0 Comments
New game-changing motion graphics & VFX featu...
06/05/2024
NBC has renewed Night Court for a third season. The courtroom comedy was on the network from 1984 to 1992, and NBC rebooted it in early 2023....
06/05/2024
ABC has revealed its summer schedule. The Bachelorette gets going Monday, July 8, with Jenn Tran the star in season 21. Celebrity Family Feud starts up Tuesday,...
06/05/2024
It's almost go-time for the Holly Springs Salamanders! The season opener is ...
06/05/2024
For years, radio stations have used on-premises servers to broadcast content and manage automation, traffic, and billing systems. As technology continues to adv...
06/05/2024
06 May 2024
AI and Big Data Take the Centre Stage in Central Asia at Beetech 20...
06/05/2024
FIRST LOOK AT JIM PARSONS & MAYIM BIALIK REPRISING THEIR ROLES FROM THE BIG BAN...
06/05/2024
NBC Sports and Churchill Downs Extend Historic Partnership, Kentucky Derby to Be...
06/05/2024
Beverly Hills Aerials, LIV Golf Make Australian-Broadcast History by Flying Live...
06/05/2024
Back to All News
Watch the Trailer for A Part of You - Felicia Maxime, Edvin Ry...
06/05/2024
Leadership in 12G-SDI for low impact migration to 4k production...
06/05/2024
Press release - 6 May 2024 07:31
STATEMENT CONCERNING EUTELSAT GROUP'S GROUND NETWORK Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Download as PDF
Paris, 06 May 2024 ...
06/05/2024
Tyngsboro, Mass. - May 6, 2024 - Join us at InfoComm 2024 to experience the latest advancements in live production technology. From June 12-14, 2024, at the Las...
06/05/2024
To champion global movements to protect and advance equality for LGBTQ+ communities, Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, ava...
06/05/2024
Actress Matseliso Mohale has joined Muvhango'Talented actress Matseliso Mohale has joined SABC2's soapie Muvhango' as Vhangani's lover and a c...
06/05/2024
Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Leroy refuses to give up fighting to bury MthethoDon't miss Monday, 6 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Smoke...
06/05/2024
Intrinsic, a software and AI robotics company at Alphabet, has integrated NVIDIA AI and Isaac platform technologies to advance the complex field of autonomous r...
06/05/2024
Cybersecurity experts at the RSA Conference this week will be on the hunt for ways to secure their operations in the era of generative AI.
They'll find man...
06/05/2024
1) What is the rationale of the transaction? What is the benefit for SES shareholders?
This combination creates a stronger and more competitive multi-orbit ope...
05/05/2024
A special evening performance by multiplatinum singer Becky G will provide a memorable conclusion to TeievisaUnivision's Casa Cultura upfront event on May 1...
05/05/2024
Giant media buyer Publicis is telling network sales executives that it does not think Nielsen's new panel-plus-big-data currency is ready for this upfront....
05/05/2024
WASHINGTON Glenn Kirschner, legal analyst at NBC News, blasted the media for referring to the New York trial of former President Donald Trump as a hush-money ...
05/05/2024
Catchy Comedy's weekend marathon sees The Beverly Hillbillies on the weekend of May 4-5. The event kicks off Saturday, May 4 at 11 a.m. ET, and runs through...
05/05/2024
NBC Sports has the 150th Kentucky Derby Saturday, May 4. The coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock and the feature race at Churchill Downs in Louis...
05/05/2024
Back to All News
Netflix Announces New Comedy Series Roosters, Starring Jeroen ...
05/05/2024
Back to All News
Showdown Alert: Baki Hanma VS Kengan Ashura' Drops Electr...
04/05/2024
NEW YORK As the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month kicks off in May, Nielsen has released an extensive new report diving into their media habits with data sh...
04/05/2024
PHILADELPHIA As National Military Appreciation Month gets underway, Comcast has announced several new initiatives to help veterans, service members, and their f...
04/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced a tentative agenda for the May Open Commission Meeting scheduled...
04/05/2024
The Broadband Forum has announced major enhancements to key 5G convergence standards that the group said will help advance next-generation applications, improve...
04/05/2024
Spotify Wrapped Campaign Spot Graded With DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that Colorist M...
04/05/2024
Three Boston Conservatory at Berklee Alums Nominated for Tony Awards An additional eight alums and two current students performed in nominated productions.
...
04/05/2024
New faces and new storylines': What to expect on Izingane ZeS'thembu...
03/05/2024
An innovative learning tool to help media and civil society better understand ho...
03/05/2024
PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 21: (L-R) Actors K stutis Cic nas and Greta Grinevi i t , Director Marija Kavtaradze and Producer Marija Razgute attend the 2023 Sunda...
03/05/2024
If you aren't familiar with Danny Ocean's music, it's only a matter ...
03/05/2024
Spotify has an unwavering commitment to supporting emerging artists across all genres, to helping them launch and thrive in their careers, and to connecting the...
03/05/2024
Como uno de los sonidos de mayor expansi n en el mundo, la M sica Mexicana va m ...
The results of the 2017 General Election have come as a shock to the UK; Labour has defied expectations and pre-election opinion polls, leaving the UK with a hung parliament. The huge conversation on social media gives us an insight into opinion, patterns and voter behaviour on a large scale.
