BLOOMBERG: U.K. Labour's Savvy Use of Social Media Helped Win Young Voters

Press/Media: Expert comment

Description

Not everyone agrees that social media has an impact on voting. Rachel Gibson, a political science professor at the University of Manchester, who has studied social media’s impact on election turnout, said that the link between viewing or sharing content that favors a certain campaign and then actually voting for that party is tenuous at best. "Most evidence is that reading social media itself does not cause people to vote," she said.

Gibson noted that in 2015, the Labour Party had a much bigger presence on Twitter and was tweeted about far more than the Conservatives, yet lost badly. And noted this year, despite a seemingly better run digital media campaign and beating expectations, they still lost.

Period11 Jun 2017

Media contributions

1

Media contributions

  • TitleU.K. Labour's Savvy Use of Social Media Helped Win Young Voters
    Media name/outletBloomberg
    Media typeWeb
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    Date11/06/17
    DescriptionNot everyone agrees that social media has an impact on voting. Rachel Gibson, a political science professor at the University of Manchester, who has studied social media’s impact on election turnout, said that the link between viewing or sharing content that favors a certain campaign and then actually voting for that party is tenuous at best. "Most evidence is that reading social media itself does not cause people to vote," she said.

    Gibson noted that in 2015, the Labour Party had a much bigger presence on Twitter and was tweeted about far more than the Conservatives, yet lost badly. And noted this year, despite a seemingly better run digital media campaign and beating expectations, they still lost.
    URLhttps://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-11/u-k-labour-s-savvy-use-of-social-media-helped-win-young-voters
    PersonsRachel Gibson

Keywords

  • social media
  • UK politics
  • general election