From a press release from Radian6 which analyzed the tweets sent in for the July 6 scheduled Twitter Town Hall with President Barack Obama:
In advance of the Twitter Town Hall at the White House, Twitter analysis by Radian6 reveals that financial security and national protection are the two primary political concerns of Twitter users. Radian6 analyzed 1.2 million Tweets from the past eight weeks to understand what people are saying about four key political topics: national protection, financial security, wellness, and development.
In keeping with the theme of the White House’s Twitter Town Hall, which will focus on jobs and economics, the study found that the economy is a key political concern among Twitter users. Key findings from the study include:
1) The economy is as big a conversation on Twitter as Osama Bin Laden.
- The majority of political conversations on Twitter were driven by two topics: national protection (37.8%) and financial security (33.6%).
- News of the raid on Osama bin Laden caused the single biggest spike in sustained conversation in Twitter history[1]. The connected news stories around this event drove many of the national protection conversations.
2) President Obama’s speeches drive significant conversation on Twitter.
- The largest spikes in the Wellness and Development segments occurred during speeches given by President Obama.
- More than half of the 1.2 million political conversations included the keyword “Obama” (56.6%).
3) Men tweet about politics slightly more often than women.
- The majority of political conversations on Twitter were driven by men, whose Tweets comprised more than 60 percent of the sample.
- Political conversations around the topics of education and volunteer service were split fairly evenly between both male and female contributors.
4) Primary political concerns change with age.
- People between the ages of 25 and 34 were more likely to participate in political conversations around fiscal responsibility, ethics and civil rights.
- People between the ages of 35 and 44 focused on issues more close to home, like poverty, taxes and family.
- Finally, the majority of Tweets for people between the ages of 45 and 54 focused on health care, rural development, seniors and social security. Specifically, the health care conversations discuss the legal implications of the recently passed health care reform law in addition to the benefits this reform may bring to middle class families.[2]
Comments on the News
“Twitter has changed the way people around the world communicate, with more than 200 million Tweets being sent per day,” said Marcel LeBrun, senior vice president and general manager, Radian6. “Radian6‘s social media monitoring technology helps businesses, government agencies and organizations quickly determine the issues and concerns that are relevant to them, and discover key insights into what is top of mind for people today.
Jay Jay Ghatt is also editor at Techyaya.com, founder of the JayJayGhatt.com and JayJayGhatt.com where she teaches online creators how to navigate digital entrepreneurship and offers Do-It-For-You Blogging Service. She manages her lifestyle sites BellyitchBlog, Jenebaspeaks and JJBraids.com and is the founder of BlackWomenTech.com 200 Black Women in Tech On Twitter. Her biz podcast 10 Minute Podcast is available on iTunes and Player.fm. Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks. Buy her templates over at her legal and business templates on Etsy shop!
