Labour dominating Twitter conversation in UK election campaign, says study

Analysis by researchers at Oxford University's Oxford Internet Institute shows that content about the Labour Party is dominating traffic on Twitter during the UK general election campaign. Hashtags such as #VoteLabour and #JezzWeCan are outperforming the likes of #VoteTory and #StrongAndStable, according to the new study. But the 'junk news' that blighted the US presidential race is also playing a role in the UK election, accounting for almost 13% of relevant content shared. The researchers analysed more than 1.3 million tweets produced between 1 and 7 May 2017, using hashtags associated with the primary political parties in the UK, the major candidates, and the election itself. Findings include: Hashtags Labour Party hashtags appear the most often in political tweets (39.7% of party-specific tweets). Conservative Party hashtags account for 26% of the total. The SNP is 'disproportionately' represented in Twitter conversations (19%), given the party's size.