The 2015 General Election – According to Social Media
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Well in terms of sheer Twitter activity, it seems to almost
perfectly reflect the result. Figures released last night suggest that the
Tories were getting 39% of the mentions compared to Labour’s 36%. The SNP had
9%, with UKIP on 7, the Lib Dems on 8 and the Greens with 1. Given the way the
polls have been going, it’s a fair bet that the continued activity this morning
has been much the same. Twitter also got in on the voting declaration act with
the #IVoted hashtag, although it didn’t get anywhere near the same level of
exposure as the Facebook version.
Of course that’s all well and good, but memes are really the
heart of internet culture at times like this, derivative as they are. During
the actual voting yesterday the #DogsAtPollingStations trend took off, with
people sharing pictures of dogs patiently waiting for their masters to vote. As
it turned out, it was all the doing of Innocent Smoothies, which should come as
no surprise, their ad campaigns are uniformly excellent.
Later into the evening as the count started, the exit poll
heavily favoured the Tories, shocking everyone, particularly Lord Ashdown, who
said he would eat his hat if it turned out to be correct. The internet being what
it is, hundreds of Twitter and Facebook users began posting images of hats,
effectively creating an interactive menu for Ashdown to select from. At time of
writing there are 15 or so seats left to call, but it’s looking like he might
have to keep his word.
The other big buzz was caused by some timely Wikipedia
sabotage, as the pages for several party leaders were edited (or defaced) in
creative and interesting ways. Most notably, David Cameron’s page was tweaked
so that the image was replaced with one of Ed Miliband, it was rectified by the
moderators within minutes, but it was still up long enough for Twitter and the
like to notice.
Since the results have started coming in, things have gotten
a little more heated/dismal. BuzzFeed have been keeping a running tally of
exactly how much deposit money the Liberal Democrats have been losing the wake
of their disastrous performance, the Greens have enacted an all-out assault on
the UK electoral system, citing the fact that they gained over 1,000,000 votes,
but one measly seat. The #FairVotesNow hashtag is already trending.
The most noise, however, seems to have been made about the
overwhelming victory in Scotland by Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP. The ‘Angry
Salmond’ parody account has been swearing up a storm and ever-increasing online
chatter about the future of the country has emerged.
Likely as anything more social media stories will continue
to generate over the weekend, but those are the headlines for now. Whatever
your stance might be, this has been a fascinating, unpredictable electoral race
and social media has had a significant hand in that.
Callum Davies
Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF
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The 2015 General Election – According to Social Media
Reviewed by Unknown
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Friday, May 08, 2015
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Friday, May 08, 2015
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