March 2009
8 posts
7% of MPs are now on Twitter.
With the latest sign ups to Twitter this weekend there are now 44 MPs using the service - that means that 7% of parliament is now on Twitter.
Of the tweeting MPs, 62% are Labour, 18% are Conservatives and 18% are Lib Dem, while 3% are “other”.
When TweetMinster launched in December (08) there were 5 Members of Parliament using Twitter.
Is YouGov predicting a record turnout?
The latest YouGov Sunday Times survey (which can be downloaded here (excel)) doesn’t show too many variations between major parties and the perception people have of candidates.
One number that though stands out is the 8% of people surveyed that said they “would not vote”. This is coupled with a 13% that say that they “don’t know”.
Turnout at the last three...
What's making the Tweetometer swing?
Yesterday morning we launched the Tweetometer, a tool that lets you see what’s popular on Twitter by comparing two terms.
Since launch there have been about 1000 terms that have been compared using the Tweetometer, we were very curious to see some of the data and we thought it would be interesting to share some of the initial findings.
The most popular comparisons have been Gordon Brown...
Announcing the Tweetometer!
We’re delighted to announce the launch of the Tweetometer!
What’s the hottest political topic on Twitter? Cameron or Brown? Labour or the Lib Dems? Credit Crunch or Guantanamo? Our easy to use Tweetometer can tell you.
How it works:
Step 1: Enter the terms you want to compare (anything at all) and see for yourself.
Step 2: Grab the code and paste it into your web page or blog.
...
Why politicians should tweet.
We want to share a few thoughts to why we feel politicians should use Twitter.
It’s not just about communicating to people, but about genuinely connecting with a wider audience - for example 50% of young people want politicians to use social media (pdf): it’s about engaging larger numbers in politics. It’s not just about giving voters and potential voters tools to connect with...
Scratching the surface of "socialness"
There have been quite a few articles and recent pieces of analysis looking into how MPs are using social media. We’ve provided thoughts on the role of Twitter to some and have been delighted to see the use of Tweetminster data in others. There have also been a couple of guesses at listing the “top” political tweeters.
We feel it would be valuable to bring to some of these initial...
A look inside Tweetminster Search
Just over a week ago we launched Tweetminster Search a tool that allows you to search through all the tweets of MPs, PPCs, parties, Downing Street and Parliament, and to filter results by party, date and MP or PPC.
Over a thousand searches later we thought it would be interesting to look at the most popular search terms:
In parallel to search, you can of course also view trending terms used...
Making Tweetminster Search more granular
We’ve just added several filtering options to Tweetminster Search.
Now when doing a search you can filter and order results by:
Relevancy or Date
By Party: filters results around a selected party, displaying posts by MPs and PPCs from that party
By MP and PPC: filters results around the selected MPs and PPCs
Tweetminster Search lets you search through the tweets of MP, PPCs,...
