Reflecting and Mediating Public Opinion: Twitter and the 2015 UK General Election

There is considerable academic interest in the authority of Twitter as a source of public opinion. With its ability to provide 24 hour, instantaneous commentaries and responses to events and discussions, coverage of the 2015 UK General Election saw a growing integration of Twitter and other social media in the reporting of events by more traditional media outlets, such as the BBC. Reactions of both the broader base of Twitter users, as well as those of the campaigning parties and candidates, became a regular feature of the election broadcasts. Yet, whilst initial findings indicate that public opinion on Twitter broadly matches that recorded by official polls, just how far did it go to influencing the Twitter pages of the parties themselves? Which came first; the party line - or the public tweet? Using the 2015 UK General Election as the case study this paper will explore the dynamics of public opinion and Twitter. The focus of the relationship will be between the content of the official Twitter pages of the parties (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP) and the public opinion generated both on the site and externally in official polls and reports. This data will be used to determine the extent to which public sentiment is reflected by the pages, such as issue coverage, and mediated by the pages, to promote their own campaigns or to hinder those of their rivals. This paper offers an alternative perspective on the dynamics of public opinion in the Twittersphere and its role in shaping the relationship between the public and its politicians. It aims to lay out an initial framework to aid our understanding of the correlation between public sentiment and election campaigning on the party Twitter pages.