the european political twittersphere

The European Political Twittersphere: Network of top users discussing the 2014 European Elections

Axel Maireder, Stephan Schlögl (University of Vienna)Florian Schütz, Markus Karwautz, Christian Waldheim (GfK)

Vienna, 26 June 2014

www.gfk.com/twitter© 2014 by University of Vienna & GfK

The European Political Twittersphere Introduction

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Twitter has become a major channel for pol-itical communication, gathering the views of traditional sources: the politicians themselves and the news media, and also a diverse array of commentators from bloggers and cartoon-ists to NGOs.

The University of Vienna has combined forces with GfK to research and map the reach and scope of the European political Twitter-sphere. In doing so, we are observing the radical changes to public communication flows it has induced. Rather than depending on direct communication with the media and journalists as intermediaries, political actors can now engage with all of their stake-holders, including the media, but also including 'casual' consumers and citizens.

The study revolves around the European elections held in May 2014. Twitter was an integral part of the media mix for political

discussion and campaigning. Politicians, activists, lobbyists, experts and journalists used the micro-blogging service to exchange information and engage in conversations on current affairs.

In 2009, the year of the previous election, Twitter was barely used for political purposes in Europe. In five years it has become widely used around the globe. Social movements, such as the Arab revolutions in 2011-12, Occupy Wallstreet in the US and Europe in 2012-13 and the Gezipark Protest in Turkey 2013, have used Twitter as a tool for the diffusion of infor-mation, the mobilization of people and re-sources, the organization and coordination of action, and communication to the general public. It is Twitter’s attributes of speed and directness that will have consequences for politics in modern democracies.

Creation of the Twitter networkFollower networks underlie the structure of Twitter communication, they shape the flow of information on Twitter. The networks emerge from the aggregation of individual choices on whom to follow - reflecting interest in the messag-ing or keeping abreast of the opposition’s opin-ions, and representing patterns of interests between users. The network is generally stable because the addition, deletion or replacement of accounts tends to be gradual.

ContentsKey Findings, European Top 15Study designNetwork overviewCountry clusters in detailTop accounts by categorySummaryCredits

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© 2014 by University of Vienna & GfK

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‣ While the structure is defined by language and nationality, political orientation is the most divisive factor within nationalities. In Spain, Italy and France however, mainstream political groups form one densely connected community, regardless of left- or right-wing bias, and major opposition groups and social movements form another distinct part.

‣ At the center of the network lie accounts that are followed by users from many different countries, including British news media and EU-related accounts, but there are also important new players - bloggers, cartoonists and extra-parliamentary political groups who play significant roles in national communication networks.

‣ This strong European core is dominated by Western Europe, with little Eastern European presence.

Account name Country CentralityTheEconomist UK 18,748BBCBreaking UK 18,258el_pais ES 15,595lemondefr FR 14,325guardian UK 14,287MartinSchulz DE 13,108BBCWorld UK 12,961EU_Commission EU 12,917iescolar ES 10,462elmundoes ES 10,383_anapastor_ ES 10,347AP US 10,313WSJ US 9,638publico_es ES 9,319eldiarioes ES 8,839

EUROPEAN TOP 15Centrality based on all 444,123 users included in the study

The European Political Twittersphere Key Findings


Study Design: Reconstructing Twitter Information Networks

0

25000

50000

75000

Data retrievalCalculation of the top accounts is based on the 444,123 users identified as participants in the debate on the European Parliamentary elections. Starting two months prior to the elections, we collected 1,346,647 tweets that contained the words ‘European election’ and ‘European parliament’ in all official EU lan-guages [1] or used one of several respective hashtags [2].

We retrieved the profile data for all those users from Twitter’s API and calculated the number of incoming connections for each account (indegree).

Network analysisAll users that had sent at least two tweets on the elections and had a centrality (indegree) higher than 250 (a minimum of 250 incoming connections) were included in the study. This resulted in a network of 11,844 users (nodes) with 2,084,207 follower relations (edges).

In addition to calculating each node’s cen-trality, we analysed the broader structure of the network using a clustering process [3]. This revealed that parts of the network were more densely connected than others. Users within a particular cluster are much more likely to receive tweets from users of the same cluster than from outside. Hence, the clustered network represents the structural architec-ture that shapes information flows and communication patterns.

Tweets sent on the EP elections per day

444,123 users sent tweets on the EP elections

A total of 1,346,647 tweets sent in 2 months

28 March 26 May

Election day 25 May: 266,134 tweets

Sent a minimum of 2 tweetsMinimum of 250 followers

in the network

11,844 core users for the network analyses

Reduction of the user base for the network analyies

Start of election 23 May

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[1] According to the official translation on the main webpage elections2014.eu[2] #EP2014, #ep14, #eu2014, #PE2014, #eu14 and several other country-specific Hashtags[3] Blondel et al. (2008): Fast unfolding of communities in large networks. arXiv:0803.0476v2


Study Design: Reconstructing Twitter information networks VisualizationWe visualized the network graph using the Gephi software [1] and its ForceAtlas2 algo-rithm [2]. The size of the nodes indicate their centrality and their position reflects their connections to other nodes.

The color of nodes and edges represent clusters (p. 6-19) or the category in terms of political system (p. 21, 22, 24).

For the latter, we manually coded the top 1,000 users based on their description and assigned the categories ‘journalist’, ‘media institution’, ‘politician’, ‘political party’, ‘activist’, ‘non-governmental organisation’ and ‘other’. The visualizations also show the names of the most important accounts [3].

InterpretationTo interpret each network graph with par-ticular reference to the composition of the clusters, we scanned and contextualized hundreds of major accounts. The network graphs were then interpreted in the context of major political developments, the EU election campaigns and results.

Missing Accounts?Some accounts, like that of Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, may appear to be missing from our study, because our research design included only those accounts that sent at least two tweets mentioning the EP and the elections. David Cameron, for example, did not.

The closer the nodes, the more connections they share.

The bigger the nodes, the more followers in the network.

A follows B

A B

B follows A

How to read the graphs on the next pages

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The next pages feature network graphs, essentially nodes (representing accounts) and edges (representing following).

But please keep in mind: The network algorithm tries to adjust a multi-dimensional network to a two-dimensional space. This sometimes results in overlays of nodes that are not necessarily closely connected.

[1] http://gephi.github.io[2] Jacomy et al. (2014): ForceAtlas 2. PLOS ONE 9 [6] e98679[3] The selection of these accounts is based on their relevance for the network and significance for the study.


Overview: Network of Europe‘s top 12,000 political accounts

SPANISH

ITALIAN

FRENCH

BRITISH & IRISH

THE CENTER

GERMAN & AUSTRIAN

DUTCHSWEDISH

FINNISHDANISH

690 accounts, see p. 11





1,549 accounts, see p. 13





Nodes are accounts, edges are follower relations.

Node size represents centrality. Node colors represent clusters/communities.

These are South American accounts reporting and discussing the EP. See study design for details.

6

Britain-based International News media are right at the center of the

European Twittersphere

Portuguese and Greek Accounts

The visualization of Europe’s political Twittersphere is star-shaped. The center consists of accounts directly related to EU politics, such as European Parliament members and candidates and (mostly British) inter-national news media.

The peripheral clusters are structured nationally, representing the political Twitterspheres of single or multiple countries. Direct connections between users from certain countries exist and some accounts have particular roles as transnational information hubs (situated at the edges of, or in-between, clusters).

However, the accounts in the central trans-European sphere are the most important in terms of Europeanwide information diffusion.

Eastern Europe missing?Only very few Eastern European accounts made it into the study, due to three reasons:1. Twitter is hardly used in Eastern Europe2. Users did not have enough followers to pass the threshold of 250 incoming connections (see page 4)3. Users hardly tweeted about the EP elections.

The Spanish part of the Twittersphere is the largest in terms of accounts included in the study

11,844 nodes (Twitter accounts)2,084,207 edges (follower relations)


EPPGroup

EU_Commission

BarrosoEU

JunckerEUVivianeRedingEU

EuropeanVoiceEVAndrew_Duff_MEP

GuyVerhofstadt

SkaKellerALDEgroup

Berlaymont

Hannes_Swoboda

BrunoBrussels

MalmstromEU

NeelieKroesEU

SpiegelPeterOpenEurope

ecfr

ftbrussels

MatinaStevis

EconEurope

CEPS_thinktank

viEUwsEuroParlPress

euobs

JerzyBuzek

GreensEP

eurocrat

EurActiv

FriendsofEurope

jonworth

The Center: News media, EU institutions, and MEPs

The Economist

Martin Schulz

AP

BreakingNews

hrw

BBCWorld

electionista

AJEnglish

Brussels-based journalists and media

accounts are important in the central cluster

Accounts in the central clusterAccounts in the German cluster Accounts in the British clusterAccounts in International & Greek clusters

guardian

MBarnierEU7

BRITISH & INTERNATIONAL NEWS MEDIA

EU POLITICS

Only few Greek accounts have an indegree higher than our

threshold. Those accounts form a small cluster close to the center.

GREEK

‣ Martin Schulz and Jean-Claude Juncker are heavily followed by users from all countries, but particularly Germans

‣ Britain-based and international news media are at the very center of the Twittersphere

‣ MEPs, EU officials and Brussels-based journalists form a distinct EU-centered community

The accounts of some EU commissioners are very prominent


The Center: News media, EU institutions, and MEPs

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Account name Description CentralityEU_Commission EU Commission 1,805BarrosoEU President, EU Commission 1,466EPP European People's Party 1,132NeelieKroesEU Commissioner, Digital Agenda 1,126TheProgressives Social-democrat EP Group 1,100VivianeRedingEU Commissioner, Justice 1,051EuropeanVoiceEV EU-dedicated news 971MBarnierEU Commissioner, Internal Market 959EPPGroup People's Party Group 903PES_PSE Socialists & Democrats 866

EU POLITICS TOP 10Centrality based on the core 11,884 European users

The center of the European political Twittersphere is occupied by a cluster of major news media and a cluster of accounts connected to the European Union. The official account of the Commission and several accounts of commissioners (Manuel Baroso, Viviane Reding, Neelie Kroes) as well as several MEPs are central nodes.

S&D front-runner Martin Schulz and Green candidate Ska Keller are part of the German cluster, but positioned very close to the center. Schulz’s opponent in the run for the Commission presidency, Jean-Claude Juncker, has a high share of German and French followers and is therefore closer to those clusters.

The media accounts occupying a central position include theEconomist, BBCBreaking, AP and Guardian. Al Jazeera English (AJEnglish) and the social media monitoring service electionista are among the most central accounts in the overall network.

Within the 'EU politics' clusters, EU-dedicted media (EuropeanVoiceEV, viEUws, euobs, ftbrussels) and Brussels-based journalists (MatinaStevis, BrunoBrussels) are important.


lemondefrafpfr

Elyseelibe

mediapart

Le_FigaroRue89

edwyplenelBFMTV

LeNouvelObs

MLP_officiel

atlantico_fr

christineboutinMarion_M_Le_Pen

GeoffroyDidier

FN_officiel

LaManifPourTous

Wks_69

quatremer

RIGHT-WING

MAINSTREAM NEWS & POLITICS

Although part of the right-wing cluster, Front National leader Marine Le Pen’s account occupies a more central position due to her comparatively large share of international followers.

Mediapart‘s Edwy Plenel is the most important individual journalist in the French clusters

FranceenGuerre

FrancoisFillonump

Bruno_LeMaire

leLab_E1

vpecresse

LaurentFabiusjosebove

Many UMP accounts are in the mainstream cluster, but some politicians have stronger connection to the right wing cluster

The right-wing cluster includes many anonymous but politically explicit accounts

russeurope

ElyseeMarine

Votre_Pere

‣ Presidential account Elysee and news media are central for the mainstream cluster

‣ Politician Marine Le Pen and conservative bloggers are among the most prominent in the right-wing cluster

‣ Newspaper Le Monde and Journalist Jean Quatremer have many international followers

JLMelenchon

partisocialiste

Several politically left accounts close to Jean-

Luc Mélenchon, leader of the Partie de Gauche

MBarnierEU

evajoli

ThomasWieder

DominiqueReynie

DarmonMichaelEurope1

GTabard

Accounts in the mainstream clusterAccounts in the right-wing cluster

9

French clusters: Separated mainstream and right-wing networks

franceinter

samuellaurent

jeanmarcayraultcecileduflot


The French Twittersphere is divided into large mainstream and specific right wing sectors; the latter dominated by politicians of the Front National (MLP_officiel, Marion_M_Le_Pen) and some of conservative parties (ChristineBoutin, GeoffroyDidier)

The mainstream cluster includes official state accounts (like elysee), major news media (libe, lemondefr) and most politicians (Laurent Fabius, Bruno_LeMaire, FrancoisFillion).

Because the websites of the newspapers Le Monde and Liberation as well as Journalist Jean Quatremer have an international following, they appear at the edge of the French cluster and are oriented towards the European center.

Politicians of the Front National and some of the UMP and other conservative parties as well as conservative bloggers and organizations dominate the right-wing cluster. A group protesting homosexual marriage (LeManif-PourTous) and a political cartoonist are among the top-ranked users within this cluster.

In the light of the results of the European Parliamentary election, which saw the Front National gaining a large share of votes, the structural division underlying Twitter information flows is remarkable.

Account name Description Centralitylemondefr Newspaper 1,759afpfr Press agency 1,267Elysee Office of the president 1,237quatremer Journalist, Libération 1,234libe Newspaper 1,179Le_Figaro Newspaper 1,070mediapart Online news site 993leLab_E1 TV broadcaster 930edwyplenel Journalist, Mediapart 905Rue89 Online news site 900

FRENCH TOP 10Centrality based on the core 11,884 European users

10

French clusters: Separated mainstream and right-wing networks


BBC Breaking

guardiannews

SkyNews

SkyNewsBreak

Nigel_Faragearusbridger

DanHannanMEP

afneil

BBCNewsnight

paulwaugh

AlbertoNardelli

GuidoFawkesMrHarryCole

labourpress

politicshomeLabourList

FTtweetminster

UKLabourIndependent

Conservatives

gdnpolitics

BBCpolitics

theSNPWeAreNational

SCOTTISH NATIONALISTS

UKIP

rtenews

thejournal_ie

British & Irish clusters: Dominated by news networks, divided by separatist groups

IRISH

Because UKIP Leader Farage is followed by many users from other

countries, his account is positioned at the periphery of the British network

UKIP politicians and supporters form their own part of the network

Many Irish users follow British accounts, but they are more connected to each other, thus forming their own community

Accounts in the British clusterAccounts in the Irish clusterAccounts in the international cluster

BBCWorld

‣ Politicians and supporters of theUK Indepencence Party (UKIP) and Scottish Nationalists in separate agglomerations

‣ British news media are heavily followed by British, Irish as well as international users

‣ Guardian‘s Alan Rusbridger and entrepreneur Alberto Nardelli areamong the most important individuals

Because British news media are very important in the overall European network, the British

cluster is close to the center11

marklittlenews

labourdavidcochrane

kevinbakhurst

mickfealty

IrishTimes

gavreilly

haryymcgee

RTEnewsPaulC

economistmeg

SeanKellyMEP

CEO of Storyful Mark Little is one of the few important economy-related accounts in the study


British & Irish clusters: Dominated by news networks, divided by separatist groups

BRITISH TOP 10Centrality based on the core 11,884 European users

Account name Description CentralityBBCBreaking TV broadcaster 2,029guardian Newspaper 1,605guardiannews Newspaper 1,114BBCNews TV Channel 751arusbridger Editor-in Chief, the Guardian 703Nigel_Farage Leader, UKIP 678SkyNewsBreak TV broadcast 611BBCPolitics TV broadcast 558AlbertoNardelli Co-founder, Tweetminster 549tweetminster Social media service 542

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The British and Irish clusters are located close to the center of the overall network, because British news media are heavily followed by users from all over Europe. Media accounts (BBC_Breaking, guardiannews, FT) and journalists like Paul Waugh and Alan Rusbridger dominate the British component.

Other major players are the political social media tracking service Tweetminster and its founder Alberto Nardelli, as well as right-wing blogger Paul Stains alias GuidoFawkes.

Apart from the central British cluster, two periphery agglomerations can be identified. One consists of Scottish nationalist accounts and the other includes UK Independence Party (UKIP) members’ accounts. However, UKIP’s leader Nigel Farage has a more central position in the overall network because he has a large proportion of international followers.

The Irish cluster is close to the British, because many Irish users follow the accounts of their neighbors. Besides mass media accounts (rtenews, thejournal_ie), the journalists Paul Cunningham, Harry McGee and David Cochrain as well as economist Megan Greene are followed by many politically-minded Irish users. The highest-ranking Irish are conservative MEP Sean Kelly and the CEO of Storyful, Mark Little.

IRISH TOP 5Centrality based on the core 11,884 European users

Account name Description CentralitySeanKellyMEP MEP, EPP Group 265marklittlenews CEO, Storyful 258RTENewsPaulC Journalist, RTE 253labour Party 242rtenews TV broadcaster 235

Paul CunninghamPaul Cunningham


https://twitter.com/RTENewsPaulC

https://twitter.com/RTENewsPaulC

micheledisalvo

Iddio

francofontana43

rinaldosidoli

Mov5Stelle

mentecritica

EnricoVerga

azael

OrbisTertius3

repubblicait

fattoquotidiano

beppe_grillo

SkyTG24

CorriereIT

Internazionale

RaiNews

la_stampa

lauraboldrini

NichiVendola

Italian clusters: Regional influence in the mainstream and a left-leaning cluster

BLOGGERS, SATIRISTS, LEFT-LEANING

MAINSTREAM

Blogger Michele Di Salvo has a lot of followers from both Italian clustersAccounts in mainstram cluster

Accounts in the 'bloggers, satirists, left-leaning' cluster

Many central Italian accounts are anonymous. Some make political orientations clear, others' descriptions are more ambiguous

,5 Stelle‘ Leader Bepe Grillo is the most prominent politician in the Italian clusters

mariocalabrese

riotta

andreavianel

lucasofri

_DAGOSPIA_

AndreaScanzi

agoraraitweetpolitica

FrancescoLamana

ilpost

HuffPostItaliagualtierieurope

‣ Italy‘s Twittersphere is divided between a mainstream cluster and a community of bloggers, satirists and left-leaning politicians

‣ Party leader Beppe Grillo has the most influential account and regional politicians are surprisingly central in the Italian mainstream cluster

‣ Besides the mainstream, bloggers and anonymous satirical accounts are heavily followed by Italian users

13

The account of the young daily newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano (established 2009) is the second most popular media account

Regional politicians Nichi Vendola and Debora Serracchiani are central nodes in

the Italian Twitter network

serracchianifgoriaThe accounts of journalist Fabrizio Goria as well as politicians Gianni Pittella and David Sassoli

are positioned very close to the European center giannipittelladavidsassoli


The Italian accounts of the European political Twittersphere are divided into two major parts. The larger cluster includes mainstream media accounts (repubblicait, fattoquotidiano, RaiNews), politicians (lauraboldrini, beppe_grillo) and experts (EnricoVerga), with accounts of Laura Boldrini and Gianni Riotta leaning towards the European center due to their high number of international followers.

Additionally, regional politicians like the presidents of Puglia (NichiVendola) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (serracchiani) play an important role within this mainstream cluster.

The accounts in the smaller cluster are a mix of political satirists, bloggers, activists, and politicians either leaning to the left of the political spectrum or connected to the 5-Star-Movement. The party account Mov5Stelle is very prominent in the smaller cluster, as are the bloggers Rinoldo Sidoli and Michele Di Salvo as well as the anonymous satirical account Iddio (Italian for god).

Some political commentators like Enrico Verga and Andrea Scanzi are located at the edge between the mainstream cluster and the blogger cluster. The accounts of journalist Fabrizio Goria as well as politicians Gianni Pittella and David Sassoli have many international followers and are therefore positioned at the periphery of the Italian Twittersphere, but close to the European center.

Italian clusters: Regional influence in the mainstream and a left-leaning cluster

14

Account name Description Centralityrepubblicait Newspaper 736beppe_grillo Leader ,Movimento 5 Stelle‘ 734fattoquotidiano Newspaper 698micheledisalvo Journalist & Blogger 685SkyTG24 TV broadcaster 641lddio Anonymous satirical account 629NichiVendola President of Apulia 619EnricoVerga Journalist, analyst, advisor 618Corriereit Newspaper 605HuffPostItalia Online news site 598

ITALIAN TOP 10Centrality based on the core 11,884 European users


el_pais

luissalvador

TodaLaPoliticaElpregoneeero

iescolar

publico_eseldiarioes

agarzon

GLlamazares

europapress

elpidiojsilva

elmundoes

marianorajoy

abc_eselconfidencial

PPopular

JoseantonioJun

La_SER

PSOE

_Rubalcaba_ElHuffPost

_anapastor_LaVanguardia

mdcospedal

JuanMalaga2011

JavierSolana

Europarl_ES

Spanish clusters: A diverse sphere with a strong center

CONSERVATIVES

RIGHT-WING & LIBERAL

15M MOVEMENT

SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

PORTUGUESE

Only few Portuguese accounts have an indegree higher than our threshold. Those accounts

form a small cluster close to Spain and the center.

CATALAN

The former "foreign minister" of the European Union, Javier Solana, has a large

share of Spanish and international followers. This explains his position between the

Spanish clusters and the European center.

Accounts in conservatives clusterAccounts in right-wing & liberal clusterAccounts in 15M clusterAccounts in Social Democrat clusterAccounts in Central clustersEl_Pais can not be attributed to a specfic cluster, because it is equally followed by all Spanish clusters

This area of the network has a majority of Catalan accounts

vox_es

15

‣ The large Spanish agglomeration is divided according to ideologies

‣ The 15M social movement has its own large cluster and includes political activists and regional politicians

‣ Users of all clusters follow news media and journalism accounts. el_pais is the most influential

Prime minister Mariano Rajoy is the most important politician, but primarily followed by conservativeliberal and right-wing users

El Diario‘s Ignatio Escolar is the most prominent individual journalist in our study, although hardly followed by users from other countries


Spanish clusters: A diverse sphere with a strong center

16

The Spanish Twittersphere is the largest in the network of European top users with of a total of 3,703 accounts. It is composed of several regions structured by the political orientation of its users, as mentioned in many account descriptions.

The largest group of Spanish accounts is connected to the 15M social movement and includes several accounts of political activists and extra-parliamentary opposition politicians. Another left-wing cluster is dominated by accounts of the social democrat PSOE party.

On the other side of the political spectrum, we see a conservative cluster connected to the Patido Popular and a right-wing/liberal cluster which includes accounts dedicated to the newly formed right-wing VOX party and the liberal Movimiento Ciudadano.

The center constitutes both mainstream media accounts (eldiarioes, elmundoes) and journalists (_anapastor_, fgarea) as well as some activists and politicians (agarzon, AdaColau). The account of the newspaper El País, which is the most prominent in the Spanish cluster, is located closer to the European center because of many international followers.

A cluster with a large share of Catalan accounts is also positioned relatively close to the center, implying a smaller share of Spanish and a larger share of international followers.

SPANISH TOP 10Centrality based on the core 11,884 European users

Account name Description Centralityel_pais Newspaper 2,066iescolar Journalist, El Diario 1,717europapress_es News agency 1,606JoseantonioJun Mayor, Jun 1,561elmundoes Newspaper 1,480eldiarioes Newspaper 1,418publico_es Newspaper 1,412marianorajoy Prime minister 1,401EFEnoticias News agency 1,366_anapastor_ Journalist, CNN 1,359


SPIEGELONLINE

RegSprecherzeitonline

netzpolitik

tagesschau

JanAlbrecht

Volker_Beck

tazgezwitscher

Piratenpartei

Die_Gruenen

SZ

sven_giegoldbueti

Europarl_DE

maltespitzgutjahrKonstantinNotz

derfreitag extra3

anked

ZDF

michelreimon

corinnamilbornhubertsickinger

derstandardat

theeuropean

wblau

AUSTRIA

German & Austrian clusters:EP-politicians and accountson digital politics important

Many Austrian users follow German accounts, but they are more connected to each other, thus forming their own community.

GREENS

PIRATES

MEPs are very popular in the German cluster of the

European Twittersphere

Wolfgang Blau, digital director at the British

Guardian is positoned between the German and

British clusters

While Chancellor Merkel has no Twitter account, the

government spokesperson Steffen Seibert is a central

node in the German network Markus Beckedahl (netzpolitik) is one of few European bloggers to have a very prominent position in the network

‣ Pirates and Greens are very active and form their own communities

‣ Accounts connected to digital politics are important, in particular the blog-account netzpolitik

‣ Germans and Austrians follow each other a lot, but the latter are still concentrated in a distinct part of the network

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Pirate party members were very actively discussing the EP elections. Their accounts are heavily connected to each other, with the party account and EP candidate Anke Domscheit-Berg in the center

JohannesPonader

netnrd

GoeringEckardt

misik

SebastianKurz

TomMayerEuropa© 2014 by University of Vienna & GfK

18

Politically active Twitter users from Germany and Austria form a joint German-language cluster, but the smaller Austrian part can be easily identified within the network.

Additionally, there are noticeable agglomer-ations of accounts dedicated to the Pirate party and the Greens. Politician Anke Domscheit-Berg (anked) and the party account Piratenpartei are prominent in the former, the Green MPs Volker Beck and Konstantin Notz in the latter.

The centre of the German cluster includes mainstream media accounts (SPIEGEL ONLINE, zeitonline, tagesschau) as well as blog accounts, most noticeably Netzpolitik, a blog on Internet politics. Debates on digital politics are very important, substantiated by blogs and tweets from the Pirate Party.

German MEPs such as Reinhard Bütikofer and Jan Albrecht play a major role within this cluster. The most prominent German politicians, the European front-runners Martin Schulz (S&D) and Ska Keller (Greens), are part of the German cluster, but located in the very center of the European network because of their international following (see page 7).

In the Austrian component of the European Twittersphere, Minister Sebastian Kurz, MEP Othmar Karas, EP candidate Michel Reimon and the journalists Tom Mayer, Corinna Milborn and Robert Misik are among the most prominent users. The newspaper account derstandardat has many German followers and is therefore located at the edge of the Austrian cluster. The most prominent Austrian is Hannes Sowboda, who is located in the central cluster (see page 7).

German & Austrian clusters:EP-politicians and accountson digital politics important

GERMAN TOP 10Centrality based on the core 11,884 European usersAccount name Description CentralityMartinSchulz EP front-runner, S&D 2,287SkaKeller MEP, Green Party 726RegSprecher Government spokesperson 658JanAlbrecht MEP, Green Party 537netzpolitik Blogger 532zeitonline Newspaper 515SPIEGELONLINE Newspaper 494bueti MEP, Green Party 493Europarl_DE German EP account 467Die_Gruenen Party account 462

AUSTRIAN TOP 5Centrality based on the core 11,884 European usersAccount name Description CentralityTomMayerEuropa Journalist, Der Standard 226othmar_karas MEP, EPP 186misik Journalist, Der Standard 184sebastiankurz Minister of Foreign Affairs 173michelreimon EP Candidate, Green Party 170


Dutch & Scandinavian clusters: Left-leaning politicians and state officials on the top

JaapJansen

woukevscherrenb

martinvisserWimvandeCamp

Europarl_NL

carlbildt

DUTCH

SWEDISH

DANISH

FINNISH

M_WetterstrandPihlblad

APechtold

JosHeymans

fritswester

brigittaohlson

niklassvenssonsocialdemokrat

fjellner

falkvinge

geertwilderspvv

teirdes

Due to the vizualization algorithm and lack of space, Danish and Dutch

accounts are very close to each other in the overall visualization, but they don‘t necessarily follow

each other a lot.

Dutch accountsSwedish accountsDanish accountsFinnish accounts

marietjeschaake

SophieintVeld

pwolodarski

spietikainenollirehnalexstubb

RomakkaJuttaUrpilainen

jmpentikainenAnniSinnemaki

MikaelJungner

HennaVirkkunen

HeidiHautala

Europarl_FI

sumuvuori

TuomasEnbuske

IdaAuken

MrMesserschmidt

vestager

SMSerup

KaareSorenson

christianfbach

DanJoergenson

SchaldemoseMEP

sofiecn

Heunicke

MargreteAuken

oestergaard

askrost

OleRyborgEPiDanmark

JakobBeim

AnttiTimonenER_Korhola

Swedish Foreign minister Carl Bildt and Finnish minister of European Affairs Alex Stubb are important and close to the European center

‣ Ministers and other state officials rank high in the Scandinavian clusters, including foreign ministers Carl Bildt (Sweden) and Alexander Stubb (Finland)

‣ MEPs are very prominent in the Dutch part of the Twittersphere, Sophie in 't Feld and Marietje Schaake in particular

‣ Many left-leaning politicians have central positions in Dutch and Scandinavian clusters

19

Right wing politicians Geert Wilders (Dutch) and Morten

Messerschmidt (Danish) rank high

MEPs are central for the Dutch part of the

Twittersphere and are positioned close to the

European center


Dutch & Scandinavian clusters: Left-leaning politicians and state officials on the topThe Dutch area of the European Twittersphere is dominated by politicians, including D66’s Marietje Schaake and Sophie in t’Veld as well as Bas Eickhout and Judith Sargentini from left-wing GroenLinks party. Right-wing party leader Geert Wilders ranks 11th.

In the Swedish cluster, the internationally-connected foreign minister Carl Bildt outranks all others, including his own wife MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt. Birgitta Ohlsson, Minister of European Affairs and several politicians of the pirate, social democrat and moderate parties are among the Swedish top users. Expressen’s Niklas Svensson is the highest ranking journalist.

Both the Danish and Finnish parts of the European political Twittersphere have a number of left-leaning politicians among the top accounts. The highest-ranking Danish user

is the left-wing politician and EP candidate Karen Melchior, who is positioned in the central EU cluster because of her international following. The party leader of ‘Radikale Venstre’ Margrethe Vestager and her colleague Ida Auken are other top-ranked Danish politicians. On the other side of the political spectrum, right-wing party leader Morten Messerschmidt has many followers. Additionally, three Danish ministers are among the top users, led by the Minister of Agriculture Dan Joergensen.

In the Finnish clusters, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb is on the top of the list. The politicians Sipra Pietikäinen, Paavo Arhinmäki and Mikael Jungner are are amongst the top users, alongside Finland's EU commissioner Olli Rehn. TV presenter Tuomas Enbuske is the highest-ranking journalist.

DUTCH TOP 5

Cent

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,884

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Account name Description CentralityMarietjeSchaake MEP, ALDE 706SophieintVeld MEP, ALDE 487JaapJansen Journalist, Pauw en Witteman 341BasEickhout Politician, Green party 305fritswester Journalist, RTL 304

SWEDISH TOP 5

DANISH TOP 5

Account name Description Centralitycarlbildt Foreign Minister 972teirdes Politician, Pirate Party 328birgittaohlsson Minister, EU Affairs 275ghokmark MEP, EPP 221Falkvinge Politician, Pirate Party 219

Account name Description CentralityDanJoergensen Minister, Food & Agriculture 203IdaAuken Politician, Radical Left 199vestager Leader, Radical Left 188SchaldemoseMEP MEP, S&D 187MrMesserschmidt MEP, EFD 178

Account name Description Centralityalexstubb Minister, foreign affairs 726AnttiTimonen Political advisor, EPP 379spietikainen MEP, EPP 309ollirehn Commissioner, economy 268Europarl_FI Finnish EP account 250

Sirpa Pietikäinen

20

FINNISH TOP 5


https://twitter.com/spietikainen

https://twitter.com/spietikainen

Top 1,000 Accounts: Many political parties, but low centrality, individual journalists central in clusters, many activists in Spain Media institutions

Individual journalistsPolitical partiesIndividual politiciansGovernment institutionsNGOs and activist groupsIndividual activistsOther, not categorized

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

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Polit

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This is the overview map of the European political Twittersphere with the top 1,000 accounts colored by eight categories reflecting the type of account.

Mainstream English-language media are very central, because

their followers are distributed through all clusters.

Individual journalists are very important in

the French and Spanish clusters

The account of the Commission is the most

central governmental institution

Spain has many central political activists‘ accounts

Top 1,000 by category

Num

ber o

f acc

ount

s

Mean centrality3,620 2,530 2,550 2,632 2,208 2,5222,866

Number of accounts in the top 1,000 by category.Mean centrality based on all 444,123 users included in the study

21© 2014 by University of Vienna & GfK

Political partiesIndividual politicians

Top Accounts / Politics: Commission and EP front-runners most prominent, some regional politicians very centralS&D’s front runner Martin Schulz is first in the politicians’ ranking, while his conservative counterpart Jean-Claude Juncker ranks 10th. The EU commission is well represented by its president Jose Manuel Barroso (ranked 2nd) as well as the commissioners Neelie Kroes (11th) and Viviane Reding (15th).

Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy ranks third, followed by his countrymen Alberto Garzón, Rodríguez Salas and Gaspar Llamazares. While the latter three are very popular on Twitter, they do not hold high political office.

Likewise, regional politician and president of Puglia Nichi Vendola is the second most prominent Italian politician after Beppe Grillo. Opposition and EU-critical politicians like Grillo in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage in Britain are very popular on Twitter, which allows them to attract attention alongside mainstream media.

EP front-runners rank high

martinschulz

marianorajoy

Nigel_Farage

JunckerEU

MLP_officiel

22

MBarnierEU

NeelieKroesEU

BarrosoEUJoseAntoniaoJun

luissalvador

JLMelenchonjeanmarcayrault

cecileduflot

beppe_grillonichivendola

lauraboldrini

JavierSolana

agarzonGLlamazares

carlbildt

alexstubb

FrancoisFillon

LaurentFabius


Account name Country Description CentralityPSOE ES Spanish Socialist Workers' Party 5,808EPP EU European People's Party 5,546PPopular ES Peoples Party 5,031pdnetwork IT Democratic Party 4,683TheProgressives EU Progressive Alliance S&D 4,476partisocialiste FR Socialist Party 4,418EPPGroup EU European People's Party 4,306iunida ES Left-wing political coalition 3,890PES_PSE EU Party of European Socialists 3,866Mov5Stelle IT 5 Star Movement 3,813ahorapodemos ES Socialist party Andalusia 3,809ump FR Center-right party 3,752UKLabour UK Center-left party 3,547ALDEgroup BE European liberal parties 3,261Equo IT Green party 3,253Partido_X ES Political party 3,121UPyD ES Progress and Democracy Party 3,090EELV FR Europe Ecology – The Greens 2,999GreensEP BE The European Greens 2,990Piratenpartei DE Pirate Party 2,936ALDEParty EU European Liberals 2,871sinistraelib IT Left Ecology Freedom Party 2,664europeangreens EU The European Greens 2,626Die_Gruenen DE The Greens 2,492Conservatives UK Conservative Party 2,442

Top Individual Politicians Top Political PartiesAccount name Country Description CentralityMartinSchulz DE Leader, S&D 13,108BarrosoEU PO President, EU Commission 8,793marianorajoy ES Prime Minister, Spain 7,680agarzon ES Politician, left-wing coalition 7,677JoseantonioJun ES Mayor of Jun 7,566beppe_grillo IT Founder, Movimento 5 Stelle 7,390GLlamazares IT Politician, left-wing coalition 7,168Pablo_Iglesias_ ES Leader, Podemos 6,974Rubalcaba_ ES General Secretary, PSOE 6,489JunckerEU LU Leader, European People's Party 6,296NeelieKroesEU NL EU Commissioner Digital Agenda 6,202lauraboldrini IT Speaker, Chamber of Deputies 5,862NichiVendola IT President, Apulia 5,814cayo_lara ES Leader, United Left 5,547VivianeRedingEU LU EU Commissioner for Justice 5,480carlbildt SE Foreign minister, Sweden 5,177JLMelenchon FR Co-president, Left Party 5,082jeanmarcayrault FR Debuty, Loire-Atlantique 5,001CecileDuflot FR Politician, Écologie-Les Verts 4,954GuyVerhofstadt BE Leader, ALDE 4,880javiersolana ES Politician, Spanish Socialist Workers'

Party

4,648Nigel_Farage UK Leader, UKIP 4,570luissalvador ES Politician, Ciudadano 4,507serracchiani IT President, Friuli-Venezia Giulia 4,488LaurentFabius FR Minister, Foreign Affairs 4,376MLP_officiel FR Leader, le Front National 4,373

Top Accounts / Politics: Commission and EP front-runners most prominent, some regional politicians very centralbased on all 444,123 users included in the study based on all 444,123 users included in the study


Top Accounts / Media: Media institutions rank highest, but individual journalists are importantThe list of top accounts is headed by major media companies, including the Economist, the BBC and the Guardian who have an international following. Likewise, Le Monde and El País are very important for European Twitter communication because they are followed both within and outside France and Spain respectively.

Spanish, French and Italian mainstream media staff rank high in the category as do individual journalists, with El Diario’s director Ignacio Escolar placed first. Michele Di Salvo (ranked fourth) is an exception, presenting himself as “Blogger, writer, social media geek“.

24

Media InstitutionsIndividual journalists

el_pais

iescolar_anapastor_

The Economist

BBC Breaking

libelemondefr

guardiannews

FT

Le_FigaroRue89

LeNouvelObs

repubblicait

fattoquotidiano

CorriereITilpost

SPIEGELONLINEzeitonline

netzpolitik

Spanish, Italian and French clusters include many high

ranking individual journalists

The European center consists of media institutions


Account name Country Description CentralityTheEconomist UK Newspaper 18,748BBCBreaking UK TV Broadcaster 18,258el_pais ES Newspaper 15,595lemondefr FR Newspaper 14,325guardian UK Newspaper 14,287BBCWorld UK TV Broadcaster 12,961elmundoes ES Newspaper 10,383AP US Press Agency 10,313WSJ US Newspaper 9,638publico_es ES Newspaper 9,319eldiarioes ES Newspaper 8,839europapress_es ES Press Agency 8,833afpfr FR Press Agency 8,732EFEnoticias ES Press Agency 8,677repubblicait IT Newspaper 8,660libe FR Newspaper 8,544guardiannews UK Newspaper 8,301BreakingNews Global TV Broadcaster 8,246mediapart FR Online News site 7,944fattoquotidiano It Newspaper 7,759abc_es ES Newspaper 7,634AJEnglish QA TV Broadcaster 7,477La_SER ES Radio 7,43920m ES Newspaper 7,393FinancialTimes UK Newspaper 7,299

Account name Country Description Centralityiescolar ES Journalist, el diario 10,462_anapastor_ ES Journalist, CNN 10,347edwyplenel FR Editor-in-chief, Mediapart 6,490micheledisalvo IT Blogger 5,249quatremer FR Journalist, Libération 5,163jesusmarana ES Journalist, infoLibre 5,126eziomauro IT Editor-in-chief, la Repubblica 4,916JJBourdin_RMC FR Journalist, RTL 4,777colominaM ES Journalist 4,732carlosecue ES Journalist, El País 4,674mariocalabresi IT Director, La Stampa 4,568lucasofri IT Director, Post 4,555AndreaScanzi IT Journalist, Il Fatto Quotidiano 4,453riotta US Journalist 4,272Fgarea ES Journalist, El País 4,185vittoriozucconi IT Journalist, Corriere della Sera 4,070rosamariaartal ES Journalist 3,735a_lo_gonzo ES Journalist 3,712VicenteVallesTV ES Journalist, Antena 3 3,698giuliainnocenzi IT Journalist, Il Fatto Quotidiano 3,647Agus_Martinez58 ES Journalist, El Diario 3,614susannagriso ES Journalist, Antena 3 3,546josecdiez ES Journalist, El País 3,476EnricoVerga IT Journalist 3,423ThomasWieder FR Editor-in-chief, le Monde 3,393

25

Top Accounts / Media: Media institutions rank highest, but individual journalists are importantTop Individual Journalists Top Political Media Institutionsbased on all 444,123 users based on all 444,123 users


Top Accounts / NGOs & Activism: Human rights, digital governance and left-wing social movements at the top

Account name Country Description Centralit

yhrw Global NGO, human rights 7,249AdaColau ES Founder PAH, NGO, financial crisis 6,303democraciareal ES Movement, democracy reform 5,385facua ES NGO, consumer rights 4,491LA_PAH ES NGO, financial crisis 3,743netzpolitik DE Blog, internet governence 3,740caval100 ES Activist, justice 3,478juralde ES Activist, environment 3,313OpenEurope UK Think-tank, EU reform 3,120attacespana ES NGO, ecomomic equality 3,103Greenpeace_ITA IT NGO, environment 3,065ecologistas ES NGO, environment 2,876BeatrizTalegon ES President, NGO, democracy reform 2,837FriendsofEurope BE Think-tank, EU reform 2,726ARMAKdeODELOT ES Activist group 2,695mariano9605 ES Activist 2,640itoguille ES Activist 2,565EMInternational BE Activist group, EU reform 2,461subversivos_ ES Anonymous activists 2,400JoseMCorrales ES Activist 2,356

Top 40 NGOs and Activist Groups Account name Country Description CentralityOccupyWallSt US Movement, economic equality 2,186geopolytica ES Activist, right-wing 2,186Demos_12 ES Movement, democracy reform 2,179dryct40 ES Movement, democracy reform 2,132iaioflautas ES Protest movement 2,119ADICAE ES Movement, economic equality 2,005OpenSociety Global Foundation, human rights 1,917LaManifPourTous FR Movement, contra gay marriage

marriage

1,914EuromaidanPR UA Movement, Ukraine protests 1,809anticapi ES Movement, anti-capitalist 1,772martuniki ES Activist, left-wing 1,761laquadrature FR Advocacy group, digital rights 1,748ioerror US Activist 1,737federalists BE Movement, EU politics & reform 1,734SocialcumbreS ES Protest movement 1,734NonAuSocialisme FR Activist group, anti-socialist 1,730CarnegieEndow US Think-tank 1,699Coordinadora25S ES Protest movement 1,646anticorruption Global NGO, anti corruption 1,632Samuel_Lafont FR Activist, La Manif Pour Tous 1,621


Conclusion

27

What does the Twittersphere mean for modern democracies?How could Twitter affect Europe and European politics? Twitter gains momentum around specific movements and includes alternative voices into the political game. Politicians should not underestimate its power. As a means for factions to organize and new players to make their voices heard it is unparalleled, but similarly it is important to have something worth saying.

What does it mean for journalism?The mainstream news media have established themselves with high follower numbers and therefore central positions. The internationality of some, such as the British news media, guarantees a place, but it’s interesting to note the lack of British journalists in the top 25 accounts – many are

Spanish or Italian. An Italian may follow the Guardian, but be less likely to follow an individual Guardian journalist.

Many smaller and unexpected media outlets are at the center of specific clusters; the bloggers and cartoonists who offer a some-times radical and unusual approach to disseminating news and opinion. And while regional media were found to be largely missing, regional politicians and city mayors gained a surprisingly large following, placing them in the network.

Time to get Twitter-literate!What is clear is the necessity for all those involved in European politics to become Twitter-literate. It has the propensity to change power structures because it alters the way information is disseminated, and now is a pivotal time to understand its structure and the network that underpins it.

What are the key takeaways?We have seen the specific communication environments – the clusters - where social media actors come together. But equally important are the lines of division between network clusters – these represent the very real political and social environment in each country. In France, for example, all the mainstream parties regardless of left or right bias form a central cluster, and the Front National and extreme right wing media form another. This pattern is repeated in Italy, with a left-leaning cluster of critics of mainstream politics separate to the mainstream.

Some non-mainstream politicians, journalists and bloggers have a lot of followers – perhaps an indication of the need for entertainment in politics. Twitter’s encouragement of informality suits a more open style of communication, and this suits clever opinion-led tweets.


Credits

The Department of Communication at the University of Vienna is one of the world’s largest departments for communication science. Main research areas include political communication, journalism, advertising, public relations, critical technology and media analysis, media change, social media, the developments of communication science methods and communication history.http://publizistik.univie.ac.at

Dr. Axel Maireder is social media researcher at the Department of Communication (University of Vienna). He is principal investigator of TANEP, a project aimed at the development of methods for the structural analyses of networked public communication, in cooperation with the GfK Global Social Media Intelligence Center and the GfK Verein. http://axelmaireder.net

Stephan Schlögl is pre-doc researcher at the TANEP project.

GfK is the trusted source of relevant market and consumer information that enables its clients to make smarter decisions. More than 13,000 market research experts combine their passion with GfK’s 80 years of data science experience. This allows GfK to deliver vital global insights matched with local market intelligence from more than 100 countries. By using innovative technologies and data sciences, GfK turns big data into smart data, enabling its clients to improve their competitive edge and enrich consumers’ experiences and choices.http://www.gfk.com

The GfK Social Media Intelligence Center (SMI) offers global social media analyses setting new standards in terms of accuracy, tailoring, data integration (panels, trackers, sales, …) and industry expertise. We strive to go beyond numbers to offer actionable insights based on a wide range of use cases. Through this we empower you to turn social media conversations into meaningful business decisions.

For more information please contact Christian Waldheim ([email protected])

Christian Waldheim is Global Head Social Media Intelligence

Florian Schütz is Global Head of GfK Social Media Intelligence IT

Markus Karwautz is Senior IT Specialist at GfK Global Social Media Intelligence


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the european political twittersphere

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