2013 Election Leaflets Twitter Analysis

Audience experience of Election Leaflets revealed

though Twitter

By Erietta Sapounakis

The process• I searched Twitter for “@electionleaflets” as a

source of voice of the customer data. I took

screenshots to collect the raw data as screen

scrapers could only yield one week old results.

• I captured 17 months worth of tweets from

28April 2012 through to 30 September 2013,

which was just after the last federal election.

• The tweets were analysed using “affinity

diagramming”

– Twitter was the primary source of information. The

Election Leaflets website and Google group were

referred to during analysis to validate findings.

• Findings were shared on the 18th December

2013. They revealed opportunities to improve

communication about Election Leaflets and help

meet the needs of new audience members.

• Was too much importance placed on scant data?

Sure, but some data is better than none. This

was an experiment to see if Tweets would reveal

anything insightful about the experience and

inspire new ideas.

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FindingsUse

• Election Leaflets is used as a tool for scrutiny by political

wonks and journalists

• While some understand the role of Election Leaflets,

others assume a political interest jeopardising perceptions

of impartiality.

• Advocates promoting Election Leaflets as an archive may

diminish the monitoring value proposition. These distinct

activities are splintered across the two main channels.

Channels

• Twitter is an important acquisition tool but other forums

are harder to find.

• Twitter is an important channel for problem resolution used

by existing contributors.

• New audience members aren't aware of how to contribute.

• Twitter is an important acquisition tool but messages can

be missed.

Partners

• Partners are motivated by shared goals and skills.

• Contributors become advocates who promote the cause.

• There is audience appetite to get involved and hear more

news.

• Election Leaflets is promoted by key figures and

influencers.

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UseFindings• Election Leaflets is used as a tool for scrutiny by political wonks

and journalists– Election leaflets engages political junkies keen to

scrutinise the democratic process– Engaged users are familiar with the types of content and

tools– Journalists monitor and cite Election Leaflets

• While some understand the role of Election Leaflets, others assume a political interest jeopardising perceptions of impartiality.– Twitter users engage Election Leaflets in political debate

• Do people assume Election Leaflets has a political position when they are defending their own?

• Is there a risk others could assume Election Leaflets has a particular political position?

• Advocates promoting Election Leaflets as an archive may diminish the monitoring value proposition. These distinct activities are splintered across the two main channels.– Conversations about questionable leaflets are had on

Twitter to verify content, and to hold parties to account but this splinters engagement from the Election leaflets website itself.

Opportunities• Promote what content can be submitted besides leaflets i.e.

letters, outdoor signs, etc• Show which leaflets are generating buzz.

– Consider how debate over a leaflet can be represented on the site or on Facebook as well as Twitter.

– Promote conversations and news stories that scrutinise leaflets on twitter, on the leaflet's page, on the blog, to journalists.

• Inform followers about past scandals.– to provide context around the need for election leaflets– to help inform voters what to look out for– Include this on a standard press release that can be

distributed before each election• Reinforce impartial role and mission of Open Australia

– Create a copy template/policies to respond to users who implicate Election Leaflets in political debate.

– Publish policies on the involvement of political members on the Election Leaflets site to emphasise transparency.

• Find ways and/or invite others to provide context to add meaning to leaflets.– by relating leaflets to other democracy watching

platforms such as FactCheck, @conversationEDU

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ChannelsFindings• Twitter is an important channel for problem resolution

– Website problems are reported on Twitter e.g. missing form fields, site errors

– Users request to have submissions fixed• New users are not aware of how to contribute

– Users have no method to contribute content captured or on their phone

– Users share content directly on Twitter– Some are aware contributions can be submitted by post– Users who are unaware of the website are unaware of how to

contribute content• Twitter is an important acquisition tool but other forums are harder to

find– Users learn of Election Leaflets through direct engagement on

Twitter from Election Leaflets or its advocates– The Google group forum is not openly publicised and does not

appear on the website. (Rules of engagement are unclear)• Twitter is an important acquisition tool but communication is not

always visible– Advertising for volunteers can get lost in Twitter timelines

Opportunities• Consider ways the upload process can anticipate contributor problems.

– create tools to crop and rotate photos– allow contributors to flag content for improvement– allow contributors to provide feedback on form fields directly

after contribution to improve data integrity• Promote Open Australia and Election Leaflets to mainstream and

alternative news sites Seek marketing and communications volunteers to facilitate these tasks.

• Create a dedicated contact page listing all channels and forums with details about what they are for. Promote the Google group on the website.

• Invite all new volunteers to the Google group as part of an introductory process.

• Use the Twitter bio to communicate timely messages– Inform users on the many ways they can contribute leaflets - on

the website, by email, by mail.– Add a call to action for submissions during elections– Position Election leaflets as an archive during "off-seasons“– Calling for volunteers

• Create a dedicated mobile app for content contribution. • Consider how content posted on other forums can be added to the site

e.g. embedding/scraping twitpics• Create a dedicated page on the site for volunteer drives and provide

more information about needed tasks. This will be findable for those browsing the website and can be included as a link to calls for volunteers on Twitter.

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PartnersFindings• Partners are motivated by shared goals and skills

– Partners of Election Leaflets include government, democracy activists, developers, and journalists.

– Partners promote Election Leaflets to their audience.– Twitter is a forum for partner discussions.– Sympathetic developers are motivated to share their

skills and ideas.– Potential partnerships form publically at conferences.– Voters in marginal electorates are motivated by the

importance of their contributions.– Evangelists recruit contributors.

• Contributors become advocates who promote the cause– Users are proud and excited to contribute.– Some are competitive and proud of the number of

leaflets they have contributed.• There is audience appetite to get involved and hear more news

– Curious users want news on elections, partnerships, and volunteering tasks.

• Election Leaflets is promoted by key figures and influencers– Political journalists are important in promoting Election

Leaflets.

Opportunities• Promote appropriate hash tags to contributors to support

contributors publicising their own submissions.• Provide information on the site about important partners

such as belowtheline_au and the National Library of Australia.

• Create an Election Leaflets “In the news” page/blog posts to promote reach and importance.

• Leverage the pride contributors feel by creating lists and/or acknowledging top individual contributors.

• Create a FAQ page. List what content can be uploaded. List which elections are covered and why.

• Create press releases to help promote activity to a wider media cohort.

• Monitor and create lists of media partners to handover to future PR volunteers.

• Continuously promote milestones that advocates are likely to share, such as 20, 50, 100 etc published leaflets.

• Promote milestones for individual electorates on Twitter that advocates are likely to share.

• Publish leader boards for individual contributors and electorates.

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A journalist’s journeyThis journey records the interaction between Election Leaflets and journalist Margo Kingston.

What opportunities are there for increased engagement?

Margo Kingston@margokingston110,696 followers (as of 16/12/2013)Former Sydney Morning Herald journalist and founder of citizen journalism site http://nofibs.com.au

• Current state • Future State

Prior• Covering

federal election at No Fibs

15 March 2013• Asks question on Twitter about leaflet

in Bendigo• Twitter followers reply with photos

and information about the leaflet• @Stokely and @PhonyTobyAbbott

inform Margot about Election Leaflets

• Follower @pthr9 ask @margotkingston1 how to add files to @electionleaflets

• @Margotkingston1 asks how to upload content to Election leaflets, she is unaware of the website@stokel;y @psyvret @geeksrulz @electionleaflet Sarah, people are asking how they upload to that twitterhandle. Help!

• @Stokely and @PhonyTobyAbbott reply with more instruction

30 April 2013• Retweets

@electionleaflets 20 leaflet milestone and call for contributions

May• No engagement

28 June, 2013• Live tweets and promotes

Open Australia and Election Leaflets

• Hashtags #walkeys to reach journalist audience

.@matthewlandauer of @OpenAustralia - we give people info and routes to effect change. For example @electionleaflet #Walkleys

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Future• Margot

receives an Election Leaflets press release promoting EL as a tool for citizen journalists

Future• Margot’s

followers read the EL twitter bio which provides instruction on how to contribute

Future• Margot

retweets EL milestones:-- first leaflet received from marginal electorate-- 500 leaflets uploaded

Future• EL blog post

on how Election Leaflets was used on No Fibs

• No Fibs story on the Open Australia foundation

Affinity diagramThis is a qualitative research technique used in design to find themes and insights.

Emerging themes are expressed in first person to encourage empathy and emphasise the user’s point of view.

I searched Twitter for “@electionleaflets” as a source of voice of the customer data. I took screenshots to collect the raw data as screen scrapers could only yield one week old results. I captured 17 months worth of tweets from 28April 2012 through to 30

September 2013, which was just after the last federal election. These tweets were used as the data points for the affinity diagram.

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Use: Election Leaflets is used as a tool for scrutiny by the political wonks and journalists

I like to browse leaflets by category

I wanted to keep an eye on political junk mail myself

I find trends on EL interesting / I’m promoting EL content

I’m a political junkie and election monitorI scrutinise the political process with EL

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As a journalist I monitor and cite EL

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/the-heckler-i-was-human-first-20130810-2rpcx.html

Election Leaflets is used as a source of content for journalists

I find it interesting that EL is collecting election signs, posters, and leaflets. (I’m

aware they collect more than leaflets)

Engaged users are familiar with the types of content and

tools

Use: Election Leaflets is used as a tool for scrutiny by the political wonks and journalists

I want content to be verified

I want more details so I can scrutinise the leaflet

I engage others in discussion over published leaflet contentWe’re actively monitoring the election

process for dirty tricks

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Can I upload material from past elections?

Use: Advocates promoting Election Leaflets as an archive may diminish the monitoring value proposition. These distinct activities are splintered across the two main channels.

I’m sharing news about EL mission to archive material

Advocates promote Election Leaflets as an archive (but does this diminish the idea of it as a

monitoring tool?)

I don’t know if past election material is relevant

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I’m engaging with EL in a political debate

I’m declaring my interests and boundaries

Do people assume Election Leaflets has a political position when they are defending their own?Is there a risk others could assume Election Leaflets has a particular political position?

Twitter users engage Election Leaflets in political debateWhat role can politicians and party

members play with Election Leaflets?

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Use: Advocates promoting Election Leaflets as an archive may diminish the value proposition of using it as a monitoring tool. These distinct activities are splintered across the two main channels.

The form fields don’t accommodate what I am contributing

A party is missing on the form submission

I am reporting problems relating to the contribution process via Twitter

I want you to fix a submitted leaflet

I’m reporting an issue via Twitter

Channels: Twitter is an important channel for problem resolution13

I couldn’t upload because I was on my phone

Users have no method to contribute content captured or on their phone

Channels: Not all users are not aware of all ways to contribute content

I mailed my contribution by post

Users who are unaware of the website are unaware of how to contribute

contentI asked how to upload content to the

twitter handle/I identify election leaflets with Twitter and not the website

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Channels: Twitter is an important acquisition tool but other forums are harder to find

I learnt of Election Leaflets through direct engagement on Twitter

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/openaustralia-dev

Bigger discussions are held on the Google Group

Users learn of Election Leaflets through direct engagement on Twitter from Election

Leaflets or its advocatesOther forums are not widely

publicised

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Channels: Twitter is an important acquisition tool but messages can be missed

We’re recruiting for volunteers I missed the request to help

Advertising for volunteers can get lost in twitter timelines

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Our election activities are in line with Election Leaflets cause

I engaged with EL/OA at a conference

Partners: Partners are motivated by shared goals and skills

Partners of Election Leaflets include government services (the National Library), democracy activists, developers, and journalists.

I engage because I share technical skills

I have knowledge/an idea to contribute

I’m seeking to partner with OA/EL

https://www.facebook.com/94aYourBehaviourIsUnacceptable

Twitter is a forum for partner discussions

Partners promote Election Leaflets

Potential partnerships form publically at conferences

Sympathetic developers are motivated to share their skills and ideas

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I am competitive and proud about the number of leaflets I contribute

I recruit others to contribute leaflets

I am proud and excited to contribute

Partners: Contributors become advocates who promote the cause

I’m excited to share my discovery of EL

I’m motivated to contribute as a voter in a marginal electorate

I’m excited to promote the fact that I am contributing leaflets

I’m an evangelist encouraging others to contribute

Voters in marginal electorates are motivated by the importance of their

contributions

I’ve found content that could go on Election Leaflets

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Partners: There is audience appetite to get involved and hear more news

Curious users want news on elections, partners, and volunteering tasks

Who are your partners?

I’m excited about the ramp up of election leaflets

I want to know what elections are being covered

I want news of what Election Leaflets is up toI’m interested in contributing

I want information about volunteering tasks

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Partners: Election Leaflets is promoted by key figures and influencers (news)

I’m promoting the OA/El mission

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About the author

• Hello, I’m Erietta Sapounakis. I’m a human centred designer

– I research customers to understand and design better experiences for them and the organisations they

interact with. I work at Telstra’s Design Practice, as part of the Product Development and Design

group. In the past I’ve worked with the ABC, Foxtel, Expedia , ING Direct, Commonwealth Bank,

Westpac, St George, and others on customer experience, service design, UX, and digital strategy.

• I’m an Election Leaflets contributor and Open Australia Foundation fan girl

• I co-organise the Sydney Jobs-to-be-Done Meet-up

• I helped run the @Electionleaflets twitter account during the 2013 federal election

• You can find me on Twitter @erietta and my blog www.eriontheinterweb.com

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