Can Twitter Predict the Election Result?
"Alberto Nardelli, co-founder of Tweetminster,Sit on the fence there why don't you oh "Twitter expert".said: 'The Chancellors' Debate officially kick-started the election campaign in great style. The TV debates, alongside many other "new variables", such as Twitter, are likely to have a strong influence on the outcome of the election. We will only know the importance of such an influence on May 7 though.'"
TB is getting increasingly irritated with the lefties over at Tweetminster. He has made this clear before, but today they took the biscuit with their latest sidesplitting
attempt
at justification for the £100k they talked some PR guy out of. Apparently, and wait for it... TWITTER CAN PREDICT THE ELECTION RESULT!Let the dull thud of TB's head hitting the desk reverberate across the land.
"Our inspiration for this experiment comes from last year’s General Election in Japan, when a group of software engineers and PhD graduates from Tokyo University undertook a study analysing the correlation between ‘online buzz’ and election results. The aim of the study was to assess if word-of-mouth mentions of candidates could help to predict which ones would be successful. The study found that in a majority of constituencies the most mentioned candidate won the seat."
campaign online for the two week
before a Japanese election taken into consideration before a glorious success was called?How about the methodology, is it local mentions?
What about the fact that Twitter in the UK is full of fellow lefties and they spend most of their time attacking opponents. Lots of mentions, but many won't win.
What happens about nationally unpopular figures with large majorities - lots of mentions but no chance of being beaten?
TB thinks John Rentoul, who must have been orgasmic with Blair's return to the scene today,
hit the nail on the head
by including "can Twitter predict the election?" on his list of questions to which the answer is a resolute no.If they pull this off they will be very very rich. Something tells TB they are going to look a little silly though.
Seriously, stick to the N64 lads.
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9 comments:
Out here in the real world, virtually nobody gives two shites about twitter and it was, and remains, a flash in the pan and passing phase with almost everyone who dabbled in it and are followers of whoever.
Oh dear.............well twitter, the name says it all. The mindless prattle of things with nothing to say.
If Twitter is so inconsequential, why do you spend most of your waking hours on there TB?
How about age and the need to work?
Twitterati are generally young with too much time to spare.
So those who have to work hard for a living and the older and wiser are less likely to twitter
Hence twitter under-represents Conservative voters which may explain why Tweetminster thinks that Labour has a lead over the Conservatives when everyone else has a Conservative lead of 7% to 10%
My Girlfriend suggested I tweet ,
so one day I did especially on a day off after a night out of multiple quantities of alcohol and South Indian Garlic Chilli Chicken. Needless to say I was rough the next day so I tweeted my bathroom adventure that was practically all day. Happy to say I was not asked to do so again.
I work in IT (security) and am fairly senior and avoid registering (or even leaving my email address) like the plague as the last thing I want when I next change jobs is to be presented with the results of a 'google' on me with some of my rantings/actions. Twitter may be OK for Stephen Fry etc but some of us value our privacy and don't get paid for being public. I do not think I am alone in this view and so I agree that this is a piece of self publicity by the PR company involved.
N64!!! lol.
I'll take any of you mo foes to funky town on Goldeneye.
I am an internationally recognised legend at said.
Most right-wingers are too busy generating revenue for the comrades to pour down the drain to have any time to waste on twitter.
Twitter puts the spotlight on headlines that may not have been. And gives an insight into trending thoughts/activities/groundswells of "tribes" of media/activists/special interest groups..none of which are typical of the general population..
But Twitter is no mirror of the voting intentions of a country.