TheJournal.ie uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Click here to find out more »
Dublin: 9 °C Friday 24 May, 2013

Who’s Tweeting whom? Check out our #ge11 Realtime Twitter Tracker

TheJournal.ie’s live tweet-analysis tool shows what, who and why social media users are really thinking and tweeting about on the General Election 2011 campaign trail.

WHAT WORDS WOULD you associate with the leaders of the five main political parties? Eamon Gilmore with “prudence” perhaps? Micheal Martin with “real plan”? Enda Kenny with “debate”? John Gormley with “hustings”? Gerry Adams with “banks”?

According to the new TheJournal.ie Realtime Twitter Tracker, all of those are in the top ten words most associated with the five leaders on the social media website.

Our new Twitter analysis tool also shows that there are other, less obvious, words popping up regularly in relation to the party leaders: Why is the word ‘Santa’ in the top ten words associated with Micheal Martin on Twitter at the moment? Why is the name “Vincent” in the top ten words associated with Enda? (Okay, that’s an easy one).

To solve these, and other mysteries of how the voting public are thinking, TheJournal.ie has launched the awesome Realtime Twitter Tracker on our site which:

  • Analyses who is the most talked about party leader on Twitter – at the moment, it’s Enda Kenny by a long stretch;
  • Identifies the top ten trending General Election 2011 candidates on Twitter in a given week;
  • Compiles the top ten words associated most frequently with each leader on Twitter;
  • Tracks which is the most talked-about party on Twitter at any moment in time.

Last night, for example, Fianna Fail mentions peaked at around 450 tweets between the 8.30-10pm time slot, while Labour hit a sharp peak of 300 at around 8.30pm and then dropped sharply immediately afterwards. (This coincided with the ad break in the TV3 leaders’ debate between Eamon Gilmore and Micheal Martin.

TheJournal.ie has teamed up with Clarity, a sensor-web technology partnership between UCD, DCU and Tyndall National Institute in Cork to bring you this interactive tool and understand what social media users really think of the Election 2011 campaign.

The activity on Twitter can be analysed down to the minute by dragging the expanding timeline tool at the bottom of our nifty graph so check it out for yourself here>

Read next:

Comments (8 Comments)

  • It’s worth noting that ‘Michael Martin’ (sic) has often been a trending topic on Twitter over the past few weeks, which would suggest that Micheál/Micheal might be missing out on a few hits due to the inability of the public to spell his name.

    Quite often while suggesting he’s the stupid one, somewhat ironically.

    Reply
  • Speaking of words, I never really understood the “who” vs “whom” thing. That aside it seems that twitter is becoming an increasingly important factor in this whole election. Twitter is a veritable whom’s whom of those worth listening to in Irish society.

    Reply
  • This is cool – well done. As it happens, we visited Clarity in DCU with Eamon Gilmore the other day – they have some very cool projects going on.

    Reply
  • so why is santa associated with michael martin?

    Reply
  • Twitter has not been a great success in Ireland, Facebook statistics would provide a clearer image of what Irish social media users think.

    Reply
    • To take a quote from my second favourite book (after Ann & Barry): “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.”

      Twitter, particularly in Ireland where it is not as used like fb has a high amount of the important mavens or information specialists – “Mavens are really information brokers, sharing and trading what they know”.

      In election time information is crucial.

      Reply
    • “Twitter has not been a great success in Ireland, Facebook statistics would provide a clearer image of what Irish social media users think.”

      Here’s a synopsis “me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, xfactor, me, me, me, me youtube video, me, me, me, pictures of me drunk”

      Reply

Add New Comment