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Tag Archives: political engagement

Social media: does it influence political participation?

Posted on April 20, 2016 by heathercameron25

social media infographic photo

By Heather Cameron

“The most important factor in improving participation is persuading voters that the election (and the political process more generally) is relevant to them and that their vote matters. That is the responsibility of politicians – of all parties, and at all levels of governance – and, arguably, the media.” The Electoral Commission

Disengagement with mainstream politics, particularly among young people, is a common concern among politicians.  But in an age of all things digital, and with the growth of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, there are undoubtedly more ways than ever to engage people with politics.

It seems that traditional election campaigns of door-to-door canvassing, local meetings and incessant letter box mailings are being surpassed by a new age of digital campaigning, with hashtags, retweets and ‘likes’ all a familiar occurrence.

But with a little over two weeks until voters across the UK go to the polls, has the electorate become more engaged?

Lack of engagement

Low voter turnout has been an increasing concern in the UK. Last year’s general election saw a 66.1% turnout – the largest in 18 years. However, this was still significantly lower than the highest ever turnout at a general election in 1950, which reached 83.9%.

It has been even worse for local and European elections, and during the first Police and Crime Commissioners election in 2012, turnout was just 15% – the lowest recorded level of participation in a peacetime non-local government election in the UK.

As our previous blog on voter engagement highlighted, the latest government figures show there has also been a drop in the number of registered voters.

A general mistrust of politicians and the centralised model of governance in the UK is also apparent. And this is particularly the case among young people. Findings from the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study showed that 80% of young adults reported very low levels of trust in politicians in the run up to the 2015 general election.

Despite this, a majority of young adults said they were either ‘very likely’ or ‘fairly likely’ to vote in the election and many were engaging in some kind of political activity – nearly 90% were members of a social networking site, and over half this group used social media to engage with political or civic material.

According to a recent report that examined the relationship between the media and the electorate in the 2015 general election, “engagement with young voters worked best where media brands met them on their own ‘turf’ – online, on social media, and particularly on Facebook”.

Role of social media

Social media platforms certainly offer new ways to encourage citizen engagement and provide a level of transparency otherwise unseen in political discourse.

A recent report from the Design Commission argues that social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, can dramatically reduce the perceived ‘barrier’ between the electorate and political decision-makers.

It points to the unprecedented voter turnout witnessed during the Scottish referendum (84% – last seen in the UK in the 1950’s) and notes that whilst it was a generation-defining decision, “it can be argued that effective social media usage engaged the populace in conversation and debate and encouraged democratic participation, especially in younger age groups”. The referendum generated 10 million interactions and there were more than 4 million tweets on the topic between August 1st and September 8th.

Similarly, a study of 16-19 year-olds who voted for the first time in the Scottish referendum highlighted that social media were generally useful tools for political communication and engagement, particularly amongst the younger generations. Reasons cited, included:

  • their ubiquity
  • their ease of use and accessibility
  • that they can give rise to a feeling of community and shared values
  • that they serve as an alternative information source to the ‘biased’ press and media.

An Ipsos Mori poll also found that a majority of Britons believe social media gives people a voice who would not normally take part in political debate and is breaking down the barriers between the electorate and politicians. And, again, it highlighted that social media has the potential to have an even greater impact on 18-24 year olds, a third of whom think social media will influence their vote.

Help or hindrance?

While many believe social media is a tool of empowerment and transparency, others argue that it does not help the political process by improving people’s understanding of political parties, or the issues, but rather leads to a ‘a trivialization of the electoral process’.

Ipsos Mori’s study found that people also recognised the disadvantages of social media, with most believing it is making debate more divisive and superficial.

It could be argued that inflammatory comments made on social media could stir up hostility and lead to aggravated debates, thereby detracting from serious political debate. Or that the use of slang can lead to confusion and ambiguity, potentially contributing to a lack of meaningful discussion.

There is also the issue of space constraints with some social media, such as the 140 character limit for Twitter, which can make it even more difficult for arguments to be conveyed in the way intended. And the accuracy of information provided should also be considered.

Final thoughts

Nevertheless, it is clear that social media does play a role in engaging people who may otherwise not participate in political debate.

However, what isn’t clear, as concluded by the report on the 2015 general election, is that “despite the millions of tweets, retweets, posts, likes, shares, and views, there is no evidence that social media played a decisive role either in boosting engagement and turnout, or in the election result.”

That is not to say that social media won’t play this role in future elections, if its growth continues and if those of the digital generation move into key political and media roles – #GE2020?


If you enjoyed reading this, you may also be interested in our previous blogs:

  • Police and Crime Commissioner elections: increasing engagement in low turnout elections
  • Pushing the vote out: how can more people be persuaded to exercise their most basic civic right?
  • e-Participation: helping citizens engage with politics and policy making in the 21st century

Follow us on Twitter to see what developments in public and social policy are interesting our research team.

Idox Elections is one of the premier election service providers in the UK, providing expertise and knowledge across all areas of election management.

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Posted in Digital, Government and politics | Tagged elections, engagement, facebook, media, participation, political engagement, politics, public participation, social media, twitter, voter turnout, voting | 2 Comments

Diversity, citizenship and identity in the UK: conference highlights

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Rebecca Jackson
The Conference room and view. Rebecca Jackson 2015

The conference room and view. Rebecca Jackson 2015

By Rebecca Jackson

361 days since Scotland went to the polls in the 2014 independence referendum, and in the context of the current political climate regarding displaced peoples and refugees, BEMIS hosted a conference on Monday in Glasgow to consider citizenship and identity in the UK.

The conference was supported by the University of Swansea, the Scottish Government and GRAMNet (Glasgow Refugee Asylum and Migration network) which is based at the University of Glasgow.

Delegates came from across Scotland (and Wales) with representatives from a diverse range of community groups, local government, and universities to discuss Scottish identity and citizenship, and how it applies to them.

Key values of inclusion

The morning began with an address by Dr Rami Ousta, the CEO of BEMIS, one of the conference organisers. Dr Ousta spoke at length about the key values which he believes are inherent within Scotland. Values, he said, which make Scotland a fair and inclusive place for ethnic minorities to live. He said he believed that identity and belonging should not hinge on terminology but that this is something which he felt some individuals had become “constrained by”.

Dr Ousta emphasised the importance of active citizenship – stating that “minority groups should engage to compliment government efforts” and that the role of the current generation was to “create and promote discussion for the benefit of future generations.”

What it is to be a citizen

Then the politicians took the floor, with Marco Biagi MSP beginning, followed by Leanne Wood. Mr Biagi (Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment) opened by stating that he felt that September 2014 to September 2015 had been a massive year for citizenship and identity in Scotland. People in Scotland were, as he put it “engaging as citizens like never before.” The independence referendum was, he thought, the representation of the civil understanding of what it is to be Scottish.

He highlighted his role as an example of the Scottish government’s focus on delivering a change in how they approached what he called the “democratic promotion agenda”. He highlighted upcoming citizen’s forum events and emphasised the necessity for Scotland’s institutions to be representative if they are to engage individuals from across different communities in political participation in Scotland.

Leanne Wood (Leader of Plaid Cymru) also highlighted the referendum as a key moment in the democratic realisation of citizenship in Scotland. She focussed on the idea of nationhood and nation building, touching on similarities and differences in the experiences and contexts in Scotland and those in Wales. She emphasised the ability of Scots to promote a more egalitarian agenda, as Scotland provides a more distant space from the rise of the far right which has been seen in England and Wales. She spoke of “journeys to civic nationalism“, both in Scotland and in Wales.

Leanne Wood AM (L) and Marco Biagi MSP (R). Rebecca Jackson 2015

Leanne Wood AM (L) and Marco Biagi MSP (R). Rebecca Jackson 2015

The view from the floor

Following a brief Q&A, delegates highlighted the importance of the conference to the current refugee crisis. There was a discussion around the application of Scottish government proposals from a local authority perspective – how could local authorities use the power they have to promote this inclusive agenda ‘on the ground’.

The speakers were challenged on their generalisation of the issue of integrating more migrant communities in Scotland and that the way they had described it was very different to the realities being seen on the ground. There were references to hate crime and isolated communities within Glasgow which were issues which some delegates felt were not being addressed by the Scottish government.

There was also a question regarding the participation of minority groups in local councils to which Mr Biagi responded by saying that local authorities “still have a long way to go to be representative of women, minority groups and disabled people” but stressed that “community planning, which could define an inclusive and participative citizenship, is vital and is something the Scottish government are working towards.”

A move away from paternalism

The morning was rounded off by a foray into the world of academia. Firstly Dr John McKendrick from Glasgow Caledonian University spoke about child poverty in Scotland, the recent EIS document on Child Poverty and how in order to generate a sense of citizenship within Scotland, Scotland’s problems should be tackled cooperatively.

He reiterated the point raised earlier, that Scotland “is not as egalitarian as the public debate would have us believe.” But he suggested that the referendum could act as a turning point to create a fairer Scotland and offered an opportunity to rethink how society integrates and acknowledges different viewpoints.

Finally, Professor James Mitchell from the University of Edinburgh, spoke of the influence of the independence referendum in relation to the Christie Report, which he was involved in drafting. He spoke of using public policy as a way to engage people, rejecting the traditional paternalistic approach of policy makers who did things for people, not with them.

He discussed how government, both central and local, should use the appetite for participation which the referendum created in Scotland and translate this into everyday decision-making processes. Summarising, he stressed that in his opinion, the question of citizenship is important because communities are now key to leading the public policy agenda in Scotland.

Final thoughts

Although interesting and useful in generating discussion (the follow- on interactive workshop sessions in particular), the discussions appeared to emphasise what many people in the room already knew. When questioned on practical tangible differences that could be made, delegates were reminded by the speakers that the Scottish Government has no power over asylum and immigration, as those matters remain reserved; and that changing cultural values to help integrate communities would be a long and slow process.

What the conference did do was raise the issue of citizenship up the agenda again in Scotland and highlight to those who were there the improvements which have been made. It also emphasised the wide spectrum of people willing and eager to cooperate and interact to make Scotland a fairer, more equal and more enjoyable place to live, and that is, as one speaker summarised, a positive sign for the future.


The BEMIS “Diversity, citizenship and identity in the UK – 2015 and beyond” conference was held in Glasgow City Chambers on 14 September 2015. 

Who was speaking?

  • Dr Rami Ousta, CEO BEMIS Scotland
  • Marco Biagi MSP, Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment
  • Leanne Wood AM, Leader of Plaid Cymru, Member of the National Assembly for Wales, South Wales Central Region
  • Professor James Mitchell, University of Edinburgh
  • Dr John McKendrick, Glasgow Caledonian University

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Posted in Equality and Diversity, Government and politics | Tagged BEMIS, Christie Commission, citizenship, communities, community engagement, conference, glasgow, identity, participation, political engagement, poverty, referendum, representation, Scottish Government, Swansea | 2 Comments

Election season nears a close … but what’s the longer-term outlook for democracy?

Posted on May 6, 2015 by morwenj
Image by Feral78 via Creative Commons

Image by Feral78 via Creative Commons

In the run up to the UK general election, we’ve been looking at all things democratic on our blog. A quick read of some of our key articles shows just how much interest there is currently in making policy-making and government more accessible and open. It’s not easy though –the majority of the social, economic and environmental problems facing the country could be described as ‘wicked’ – cutting across boundaries (geographic and service) and requiring significant change (behavioural or organisational).

On the positive side, there are creative digital and social approaches developing – aimed at increasing engagement and stimulating discussion. Sites like ShouldWe are taking a crowd-sourced approach to examining public policy debates and evidence. Democracy Club is also using crowdsourcing, this time to capture candidate information and create and archive of election leaflets. And this election has seen a huge increase in public scrutiny of manifestos, speeches and politician’s campaigning, with sites such as Fact Check , Full Fact and The Conversation’s Election FactCheck examining the evidence behind the rhetoric.

In terms of reaching those groups who have tended to be disengaged from politics, online campaigns such as #EmilyMatters , Operation Black Vote and Bite the Ballot have been using social media to counter the argument that politics is irrelevant to everyday life.

Without a commitment to open and ongoing discussion about the choices our governments (local and national) are making – and the implications of these for our society – large sections of the population will remain excluded from the democratic process.

When the Information Service we deliver was set up over forty years ago, one of its founding aims was to make policy (and the evidence informing it) more accessible to practitioners and frontline staff in the public sector. We like to think we play our own small part in informing and empowering those who want to understand social policy in the UK, and if necessary challenge the status quo.


Catch up with these resources on democracy and elections from our team:

Will voter advice technology affect turnout on 7 May? Alan Gillies looks at how online tools are transforming political engagement by targeting the non-partisan (or undecided) potential voter

Who’s influencing thinking on democracy and voting in the UK? Our white paper gives a useful overview of key organisations and individuals who are influencing thinking on democracy and voting in the UK

Devolution, for and against: a tale of many cities Our Director Rebecca Riley reflects on the arguments for and against greater devolution

Is our electoral system going through the biggest change in a generation? Steven McGinty looks at recent changes such as the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER)

Living in a democracy, it’s easy to forget how fortunate we are Rebecca Riley looks at the Election! Britain Votes exhibition at the People’s History Museum in Manchester

Democracy, at the touch of a button James Carson looks at innovations in online democracy

5 things we’ve learnt from Scotland’s indyref Morwen Johnson considers how the Scottish Referendum disrupted accepted knowledge about political engagement

Encouraging the voters of the future Rebecca Riley again, this time looking at the issue of low turnout of young people

Don’t miss future articles: follow our blog!!

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Posted in Digital, Government and politics | Tagged #Election2015, #GE2015, democracy, elections, electoral systems, online democracy, participation, political engagement, scrutiny, turnout, voter advice applications, voting | Leave a comment
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