Reinventing the attack ad: the use of Facebook and YouTube video by political parties during the UK 2015 General Election

Walsh, M. (2016) Reinventing the attack ad: the use of Facebook and YouTube video by political parties during the UK 2015 General Election. Paper presented to: 24th World Congress of Political Science, Poznan, Poland, 23-28 July 2016.

The files below are currently restricted to repository staff only.

They may be awaiting processing or under a publisher's embargo.

Items under embargo will be available for download from the date noted.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Abstract:	During the 2015 UK General Election the main political parties used social media as a main battlefield for the first time. Rather than having to rely purely upon mediated communication with the public via the established routes of political journalism, they were able to engage directly with voters using Facebook and Twitter. This paper will look at the strategies the parties developed to communicate with voters; how freedom from the regulatory environment of broadcasting allowed new forms of communication to evolve; and analyse the comparative success of different forms of messaging. The paper will consider the impact of budget on digital communication strategies including video production. The paper will be based upon a quantitative analysis of the political parties social media activity, with a particular emphasis of the role of video communication. It will provide detailed analysis of communication outputs and the reach of digital campaigning during the febrile atmosphere of a general election.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Social media, politics, Facebook, YouTube
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics > P87 Communication. Mass media J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) > JF1338 Public administration > JF2112 Political marketing H Social Sciences > HM Sociology > HM711 Groups and organizations > HM742 Online social networks
Creators:	Walsh, Matt
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:	University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology
Date:	25 July 2016
Date Type:	Publication
Event Title:	24th World Congress of Political Science
Event Dates:	23-28 July 2016
Event Location:	Poznan, Poland
Event Type:	Conference
Language:	English
Status:	Published / Disseminated
Refereed:	No
Related URLs:	Conference
References:	Baker, V. (2015) Humour on Record. Index on Censorship 43 (4) pp134-136 BBC (2015) General election results BBC News [online]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results [Accessed 20th June 2016]. Byrne, C. (2015) Getting Engaged? The Relationship between Traditional, New Media, and the Electorate during the 2015 UK General Election. Reuters Institute for the study of Journalism. Available from: http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/The%20Relationship%20between %20Traditional%2C%20New%20Media%20and%20the%20Electorate.pdf [accessed 20th June, 2016] Cowley, P. & Kavanagh, D. (2016) The British general election of 2015. Palgrave Macmillan. Delaney, S. (2015) Mad men & bad men – when British politics met advertising. Faber & Faber. Emarkerter (2015) UK consumers embrace digital video viewing emarkerter.com. Available from: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/UK-Consumers-Embrace-Digital-VideoViewing/1012843 [accessed 20th June, 2016] Fox, R. & Ramos, J. (2012) iPolitics – citizens, elections and governing in the new media era. Cambridge University Press Gunter, B. Saltzis, K. & Campbell, V. (2015) The changing nature of party election broadcasts: the growing influence of political marketing. Journal of Political Marketing 14 (3) pp229-250 Haigron, D. British Party Election Broadcasts (2001, 2005 and 2010): Ideological Framing, Storytelling, Individualisation. InMedia [En ligne], 2 \| 2012, mis en ligne le 10 décembre 2012. Available from: http://inmedia.revues.org/455 [Accessed 20th June, 2016] Harris, L. & Harrigan, P. (2015) Social media in politics: the ultimate voter engagement tool or simply an echo chamber? Journal of Political Marketing 14 (3) pp251-283 Hodges, D. (2015) One minute to ten. Penguin. Kalsnes, B. (2016) The social media paradox explained: comparing political parties’ Facebook strategy versus practice. Social Media and Society 1 (11) Kavanagh, D. & Cowley, P. (2010) The British general election of 2010. Palgrave Macmillan. Koc-Michalska, K. Lilleker, D. Smith, A. & Weissmann, D. (2016) The normalisation of online campaigning in the web 2.0 era. European Journal of Communication 1 (20) Lilleker, D. (2015) The battle for the online audience: 2015 as the social media election? UK Election Analysis 2015, eds Jackson, D. & Thorsen, E. Political Studies Association. Available from: http://www.electionanalysis.uk/uk-election-analysis-2015/section-6-socialmedia/the-battle-for-the-online-audience-2015-as-the-social-media-election/ [accessed 20th June, 2016] 12 Margetts, H. John, P. Hale, S. & Yasseri, T. (2016) Political turbulence – how social media shape collective action. Princeton University Press. OFCOM (2014) Adults’ media use and attitudes report 2014. Available from: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/researchpublications/adults/adults-media-lit-14/ [accessed 20th June, 2016] Payne, S. (2015) Watch: Natalie Bennett demonstrates how Green policies don’t add up. The Spectator. Available from: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/01/watch-natalie-bennettdemonstrates-how-green-policies-dont-add-up/ [accessed 20th June, 2016] Ridout, N. Franklin Fowler, E. & Branstetter, J. (2012) Political advertising in the 21st century: the influence of the YouTube ad. Western Political Science Association Ross, T. (2015) Why the Tories won. Biteback Publishing Seldon, A. & Snowden, P. (2015) Cameron at 10 – the inside story 2010-2015. William Collins. Watson, I. (2015) Five million conversations – how Labour lost an election and rediscovered its roots. Luath Press. Worcester, R. Mortimore, R. Baines, P. & Gill, M. (2015) Explaining Cameron’s comeback. Indie Books.
URI:	http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/8788

Actions (login required)

Edit Item

Altmetric