Mark Pack

“Lib Dems are leading the way” on Twitter

By | Sat 26th September 2009 - 11:20 am

A report published by the University of Plymouth and Bournemouth University concludes:

Research has revealed that nearly 67% of all tweeting MPs belong to Labour ahead of 18% for the Liberal Democrats, with the Tories relegated into third place with just 12%. When you factor in the proportion of MPs that each party boasts, it is clear that the Lib Dems are leading the way when it comes to embracing the popular social media site.

And yet overall, just 51 of our 645 MPs are classed as regular Twitter users…

MPs tend to use Twitter as a means of promoting their activities in their constituency or when they are in Westminster, and again, the research has identified several trends:

  1. On average 27% of MPs tweet as part of an impression management strategy. MPs promote their activities, such as giving speeches, speaking in parliament, holding positions or launching a policy document to help build a positive impression of them both as a professional and as an individual.
  2. 21% of MPs’ tweets are used as promotion of self whereby the MP seeks to present a ‘hinterland’ which shows them as human beings. This tends to include details of their personal life, personal interests, such as sport and music and the use of humour.
  3. 14% of MPs’ tweets support their constituency service role where they explain what they are doing in the constituency, highlight local issues and mention local constituents.
  4. Only 11% of MPs’ tweets are partisan in nature. So this means that MPs are far more likely to raise their own profile rather than that of their party!

You can read more here.

Read more by or more about .
This entry was posted in Online politics.
Advert

2 Comments

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Jana
    @Tim Roger’s “ Jana. Please do not assume that everybody in the party is pro trans. Just oppose violence towards them.” I know you are correct on this...
  • GWYN WILLIAMS
    Burnham's gradualist approach is similar to past Labour Governments. In 1964 Jim Griffiths was the first Secretary of State for Wales. In the 1970s the Royal Mi...
  • Robin Ashby
    Mistral deserves further investigation ASML the Dutch leader in advanced chip machine has just bought into it to create a European force in AI. We could buy f...
  • Nigel Scott
    People who wear face masks and intimidate travellers at Dover are rightly condemned and action is being taken. People who wear face masks and intimidate women h...
  • Neil Sandison
    Its becoming very clear that the far right is weaponising its troops with on street shows of force ,it at the South East ports with men in balaclavas , encoura...