E-electioneering 2010: Use of Social Media in the 2010 Australian Federal Election

Australians went to the polls in August 2010 in a media-hyped flurry of tweeting, YouTube videos, Facebook befriending, blogging, and other social media activities. This provided a further opportunity to examine social media use in electioneering and gain comparative data to identify trends since the 2007 Australian federal election (see ‘E-Electioneering 2007’), as well as comparison with international research into the 2008 Obama Presidential campaign and the 2010 UK election.

A detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media by 206 federal parliamentarians standing for re-election over the final three weeks of the campaign revealed substantially increased volume of social media use, but a continuing exploitation of interactive Web 2.0 social media for one-way ‘broadcasting’ of messages.

This study concluded that social media expanded the public sphere during the 2010 Australian federal election in terms of sites of participation and increased engagement by citizens, but there is little evidence that social media enhanced the public sphere qualitatively in terms of dialogue, listening to citizens, the quality of debate or diversity of views expressed, except in a few noteworthy cases. Nevertheless, there are signs of improvement over previous campaigns and continuing research is recommended to track these emergent trends as the use of social media evolves beyond novelty and mature.

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.