#election 2012 tweets
I have been avidly watching election-related tweets yesterday and today. In both my classes today, I included discussions of tweets which either mentioned Obama, Romney, #election2012, and #election2012 America. The latter was particularly useful in highlighting tweets from non-American tweeters. Supporting the idea that Twitter functions like a diary or chronicle of one’s daily life are tweets which inclue “I just voted”, “just voted”, or “on my way to vote”.
Some interesting tweets which emerged from both my searching and that by students are:
- NBC confirms a voting machine malfunctioning, changing votes for Obama to Romney in Pennsylvania http://soup.ps/RDBbH1
[Unsurprisingly, tweets recirculating news stories have been extremely popular today. Engagement by the public with news or even with campaigns via social media is noted as significant by Himelboim (2012)]
- if Obama loses because y’all dumbass are posting your ballots on social networks, your ass shouldn’t have the privileges to vote!
[The interesting trend of voters using their smart phones to take pictures of their ballots and post them on social media supports arguments in the literature which discuss how ubiquitous computing makes it possible for us to increasingly publish things which are normally very much in our private sphere. Instagramming one’s ballot seems particularly popular!]
- ⬜ Romney ⬜ Obama ✔ Glitter, Victoria’s Secret, and tiaras.
[The ‘third option’ genre of tweets has been used frequently within the #election2012 hash tag]
- I’ve been praying all day for a #Romney victory
[Tweets in the hash tags provide empirical support that the religious right is actively engaged within Twitter. This supports findings in the literature of the conservative movement’s use of digital media technologies (Bennett 2012)]
- Paul McCartney sends his support to @BarackObama@TheDemocrats #Election2012 http://youtu.be/1pfbe9GzPyg
[Interestingly, Paul McCartney’s tweet was the most retweeted #election2012 tweet at one point today (#beatles #ukinvasion) ;)]
- Whether you vote Republican, Democrat or 3rd Party, you should still celebrate with @(name of brand) #America #election2012
[Unsurprisingly, lots of businesses, brands, and bands are using the #election2012 hash tag for promotion purposes. The use of hash tag manipulation is discussed by Page (2012)]
References:
1. Page, R., The linguistics of self-branding and micro-celebrity in Twitter: The role of hashtags. Discourse & Communication, 2012. 6(2): p. 181-201.
2. Bennett, W.L., The Personalization of Politics: Political Identity, Social Media, and Changing Patterns of Participation. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2012. 644(1): p. 20-39.
3. Himelboim, I., et al., Social Media and Online Political Communication: The Role of Interpersonal Informational Trust and Openness. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 2012. 56(1): p. 92-115.