Turning big data into election insights

With just a few days to go, the UK General Election remains too close to call. Latest polls indicate that the two largest parties – the Conservatives and Labour – are still neck and neck. May2015.com’s poll of polls shows that there is less than one percentage point between both parties, with the Conservatives on 34.1 per cent and Labour just behind, with 33.5 per cent. The Liberal Party, The SNP, The Green Party, UKIP and Plaid Cymru continue to gain significant mindshare and are polling well, emphasizing the breakdown of the UK’s long standing two-party hegemony.

This competitiveness, allied to the explosion in social media over the last few years, is set to make this year’s election the most digital General Election yet. Although the 2010 General Election was referred to by some as “the internet election”, social media was still a relatively new phenomenon five years ago, and social channels such as Facebook and Twitter are set to play a much more significant role in the upcoming vote.

In particular, social media is set to be a key platform for engaging with younger voters, who are often politically unengaged. According to polls by Ipsos Mori, fewer than half of 18-24 year olds voted in the 2010 election compared to 73% of over 55s. This makes young people a potentially decisive group for those parties that can capture their attention and, with recent research finding that more than a third of young people think social media could sway their vote, politicians are rushing to Twitter in an attempt to engage and persuade. ElectUK, a smartphone app created by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is tracking and analysing Twitter activity during the election campaign to give voters, politicians and commentators greater insight into the social media conversations shaping the election debate, in an easy-to-consume, interactive and visual way.

ElectUK, which has analysed over 9.7 million election-related tweets, is intended to engage voters by turning their smartphone into a Big Data social media analytics tool. The app also has a link to help people register online to vote, because we believe that digital technology can and should help bring about a more informed and engaged voter.

The app uses data taken directly from Twitter and analyses tweets about, and from, the political parties, individuals and topics that are set to dominate this year’s General Election. This data is run through TCS’ own Big Data solution which was created to allow enterprises to build, manage and analyse a comprehensive view of their customers based on external and internal data sources.

The top trends on Twitter change each day according to the latest news and events. Over the past month the data shows that the most talked about politician has been leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband. The current Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, has been in second place, followed by Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP. Although the UKIP leader has only been the third most mentioned politician, his party has been the most talked about, ahead of Labour in second, and the Scottish National Party (SNP) in third. ElectUK also analyses topics associated with the election and has found that, in the past 30 days, the economy has been the most talked about issue, followed by health and then Europe.

Whether social media support will translate into success at the ballot box at the UK General Election is yet to be seen but it is clear that digital technologies such as mobile computing and social media are rapidly transforming the way in which we discover information and share opinions around these events.

As political parties, businesses or governments transform and digital becomes the default method of engagement for consumers, organisations of all kinds need to find ways in which to understand and engage with these channels. Those organisations that can effectively harness digital by default engagements will have a significant competitive advantage; both at the ballot box and in the boardroom.

Author: Satya Ramaswamy, Vice President & Global Head of TCS Digital Enterprise, Tata Consultancy Services

Image: A Union Jack flags flies opposite Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in central London April 2, 2015. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth