Scottish politicians on Twitter: sometimes safe, sometimes silly, rarely strident

A cause celebre they should have left to the celebrities?

An activist who led them in a direction they might not have intended to go?

A study into the conduct of Scottish politicians on Twitter commissioned by Herald Scotland reveals that our elected representatives are, in fact, starting to pick up their game in the reputational minefield of social media.

So much so that by playing safe, they might be missing an opportunity to strengthen their profile and, in turn, their electability.

For example, it might surprise some that Scotland's 183 tweeting MSPs and MPs only mentioned #SNPbad - the hashtag that has been blamed in some quarters for having ‘infantilized political culture’ - 39 times in the 73-day period that we studied.

Or that our politicians only engaged with Wings Over Scotland - the influential but often controversial pro-independence blog - 105 times in the same period.

Most of the engagement with Wings consisted of retweets, which leads us to another key finding in this study. Clearly our politicians think they have better things to do with their time than write original posts on Twitter - because much of the time (in 82 per cent of cases) all they do is hit the retweet button.

“We generally find there are more retweets than original content when analysing social media conversations – however, 82 per cent is slightly higher than the normal range of 50-70 per cent I usually see,” says Dr Jillian Ney, the author of the study.

“Before I started the project I thought there would have been a higher volume of original tweets from politicians because the platform would give them a medium to extend their voice and opinions. It seems that only some politicians use the platform for this purpose.”

So who are the busiest tweeters? Who uses Twitter to vent? Who uses it to talk to their constituents? And who is, in Dr Ney’s words, in need of more “digital leadership”? 

The baddest of the #SNPbad 

We analysed the Twitter behaviour of 183 of Scotland’s Holyrood MSPs and Westminster MPs between November 23, 2015 and February 3, 2016.

In total, there were only 39 uses of the #SNPbad hashtag - and this includes retweets. So it seems clear that there was a general consensus that indulging in #SNPbad should be left to the activists, the spin doctors and the public.

Two MSPs - James Dornan (SNP, Glasgow Cathcart, 36 per cent) and Christina McKelvie (SNP, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, 23 per cent) accounted for more than half of the use of the hashtag while the likes of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale only mentioned #SNPbad on one occasion.

Though its use continues to rage like wildfire among the political hoi polloi, the hashtag may have been deemed counter-productive by politicians as it tends to obscure the actual content of debates they need to be having.

Spreading their wings (over Scotland)

Wings Over Scotland, the creation of Somerset-based Rev Stuart Campbell, grew a large following in and around the 2014 independence referendum as many in the pro-Yes camp found a place on social media to share material they did not believe was being disseminated by the traditional press.

Wings continues to be influential, so which politicians interacted most with the Rev Campbell in recent months?

Christina McKelvie topped the list with 40 per cent of engagement, albeit most of it consisting of retweets, with James Dornan second on 21 per cent.

Ciao Bella

Bella Caledonia was, like Wings Over Scotland, a child of the indyref. It lives in less controversial territory, rational rather than ravenous in its burning desire for an independent Scotland.

For all that, only 26 times in our 73-day sample period did our politicians engage with Bella Caledonia on Twitter - but there was a more even spread of names.

Patrick Harvie, leader of the Scottish Green Party, and John Finnie (Independent MSP, Highlands and Islands) each had 15 per cent of the conversations followed by Christina McKelvie (12 per cent), Mike MacKenzie (SNP MSP, Highlands and Islands, 11 per cent) and Ruth Davidson (leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, 11 per cent).

So what do our politicians tweet about? 

Taking a deep dive, Dr Ney analysed the first 13 days of our sample period (November 23 to December 5) to find some more concentrated evidence of what kind of topics engage our 183 politicians on Twitter.

Happily this turned out to be an eventful period for news and burning political issues - and the politicians didn’t hold back. There was the Commons vote on Syria airstrikes in the wake of the Paris attacks, the U-turn on tax credits by the Chancellor George Osborne and the climate change talks in Paris attended by Nicola Sturgeon.

There were also news events that were both grave (Storm Desmond, the Forth Road Bridge closure) and gleeful (a British Davis Cup win orchestrated almost entirely by three Scots).

During this 13-day period our politicians published an aggregate total of 14,162 tweets, which works out at more than 1,000 a day. That means, on average, every MP or MSP posted something on Twitter more than five times a day.

Tweeting night and day

The busiest tweeters during this 13-day period were:

1. Christina McKelvie 1,019 tweets
2. John Finnie 436 tweets
3. Ruth Davidson (Scottish Conservatives leader) 400 tweets 

During this 13-day period the subject matter of tweets by Scotland’s politicians was broken down as follows: 26 per cent of tweets engaged with other politicians, activists or media, either in direct conversation or by retweeting content.

23 per cent of tweets supported political causes, including retweets and tweets of personal support 17 per cent consisted of tweets concerning politicians’ own promotional activity or retweets of conversations they were mentioned in 13 per cent of tweets comprised support for non-political causes.

On December 2 the House of Commons voted in favour of extending air strikes against Isis to Syria. This came 19 days after 130 people were killed by Islamic terrorists in a coordinated wave of attacks in Paris.

The subject of Syria took up almost half (41 per cent) of Scotland’s politicians’ Twitter activity during this 13-day period. The sentiment of the tweet sample was overwhelmingly anti-bombing.

Climate change discussions (14 per cent) also exercised the group as the United Nations Climate Change Conference (#Cop21) was taking place in Paris during this period.

The third most engaging topic was the Autumn Statement by George Osborne which included a U-turn on tax credits - a decision that was mocked by many politicians north of the border.

The politicians who spent most of their engagement supporting political causes during this period were:

1. 73 per cent: Elaine Smith (Labour MSP, Coatbridge and Chryston)
2. 70 per cent: Alan Brown (SNP MP, Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
3. 52 per cent: Neil Gray (SNP MP, Airdrie and Shotts)
4. 44 per cent: Deidre Brock (SNP MP, Edinburgh North and Leith)
5. 40 per cent: Christina McKelvie
6. 38 per cent: Alison Thewliss (SNP MP, Glasgow Central)
7. 36 per cent: John Finnie
8. 31 per cent: Nicola Sturgeon
9. 28 per cent: Alex Salmond (SNP MP, Aberdeenshire East)

Storm Desmond (22 per cent) was the most discussed event outside of politics, with much of the engagement consisting of well wishes and tweets and retweets of updates.

The Forth Road Bridge closure (20 per cent) was also a topic of much discussion, and here the dialogue ranged from updates on closure, support for alternative transport options and the ‘scandal’ that the SNP knew about the bridge’s state of disrepair a long time before the incident.

So, in truth, this turned out to be something of a political cause after all.

The Davis Cup final in Belgium was the third most discussed non-political event, with well wishes and congratulations sent in the direction of Andy and Jamie Murray and Leon Smith after the Scots trio led Britain to its first victory in 79 years.

The politicians who spent most of their engagement supporting non-political causes were:

1. 39 per cent: Roseanna Cunningham (SNP MSP, Perthshire South and Kinross)
2. 23 per cent: Drew Hendry (SNP MP, Inverness, Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey)
3. 19 per cent: Ronnie Cowan (SNP MP, Inverclyde)
4. 17 per cent: Humza Yousaf (SNP MSP, Glasgow) tied with Nicola Sturgeon
5. 15 per cent: Alex Salmond
6. 13 per cent: John Finnie  

Me, myself and I

No self-respecting politician will ever get anywhere without being a self-promoting politician but some are more inward-looking than others when it comes to Twitter.

This being an anecdotal sample over 13 days, we would not like to label the following politicians as overly self-concerned but Dr Ney highlighted Johann Lamont (Labour, Glasgow Pollok) as an MSP who struck the right balance between self-promotion and political/activist engagement.

Those with the highest proportion of self-promotional tweets between November 23 and December 5 were:

1. 97 per cent: Fergus Ewing (SNP MSP, Inverness and Nairn)
2. 88 per cent: Ian Murray (Labour MP, Edinburgh South)
3. 87 per cent: David Mundell (Secretary of State for Scotland & Conservative MP, Dumfries, Clydesdale & Tweeddale)
4. 87 per cent: Brendan O’Hara (SNP MP, Argyll & Bute)
5. 72 per cent: Mhairi Black (SNP MP, Paisley and Renfrewshire South)

This is a forum for local people

Again, we don’t mean to suggest that any politicians who don’t feature on this list live in an ivory tower and never bother to respond to constituents’ questions on Twitter.

But we doff our caps in the direction of these three, whose engagement with the people who voted them into office during our sample period stood out:

1. 31 per cent: Hugh Henry (Labour MSP, Renfrewshire South)
2. 24 per cent: Ruth Davidson
3. 22 per cent: James Dornan

It’s all about opinions

This one is anecdotal, because even the most ingenious analytics tool cannot quantify how convincing an argument is, but Dr Ney used her own judgment to rank the most opinionated politicians during the sample period as follows:

1. Mhairi Black
2. Johann Lamont
3. Roseanna Cunningham
4. Alex Salmond
5. Angus MacDonald (SNP MSP, Falkirk East)
6. Ruth Davidson
7. Alex Johnstone (Conservative MSP, North East Scotland)
8. James Dornan
9. Neil Findlay (SNP MSP, Lothian)
10. Neil Gray 

It’s personal

Our study found that very few politicians are willing to give Twitter followers details of their own personal activities, hobbies and tastes on a regular basis. But during the sample period we discovered the following:

• Mark McDonald (SNP MSP, Aberdeen Donside) likes to talk about TV shows - Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, The Walking Dead - and his dieting
• James Dornan likes The Beatles 

In abstention 

Only six of Scotland's tweeting politicians did not publish anything on Twitter in this 13-day period. There are only nine serving Scottish politicians who do not have an account on the forum.  

The nine who currently have no public presence on Twitter are: 

• Graeme Dey 
• Nigel Don
• Kenneth Gibson
• Annabel Goldie
• Christine Grahame
• Adam Ingram
• Alison McInnes
• Nanette Milne 
• Margaret Mitchell  

Conclusions

By and large, we have discovered that Scotland’s politicians in the main behave responsibly on Twitter, using it as a device for engagement and debate and profile enhancement but rarely to press home a political point the way they would in the chamber.

Sometimes elected representatives fail to resist the temptation to say things that might not be advisable, but rather than rein in that streak does there need to be more risk-taking?

Dr Ney believes there is plenty of room for improvement in how these 183 MPs and MSPs use Twitter to their advantage.

She highlights the need for guidance and “digital leadership”. The First Minister has shown great dexterity at times when using Twitter to strengthen her credibility and popularity and might note the advice as we approach an intense period in the run-up to the May 5 Scottish Parliament elections.

“The analysis highlighted that there may be no formal policy for politicians on Twitter,” says Dr Ney. “It is unclear whether they have any kind of training on using the medium to communicate with the public, politicians, activists, the nation or the world.

“There is a vast difference between accounts. Some use the medium as an extension of their other duties and have a level sense of what they are trying to communicate (e.g. Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf), others do like to engage in lively debate (e.g. Johann Lamont, James Dornan). There are others who appear to need some kind of digital leadership (e.g. Christina McKelvie, Elaine Smith, Roseanna Cunningham).

“The large volume of retweets suggests that more digital leadership needs to happen. Is the purpose of politicians being on Twitter to add value to the nation or to use as a medium for self-promotion (they could do both) – the public want to see transparency in politics but politicians are not really putting themselves out there but retweeting content.

“There is not much debate/argument, there is a lot of retweeting of other politicians’ thoughts but not many regularly spark debate or share strong viewpoints. There is a tendency to use Twitter for self-promotion but it is valid to question what value this has to the nation?”

Glasgow-based Dr Jillian Ney is the UK's first Dr of Social Media and Digital Behavioural Scientist. She used the Brandwatch analytics platform to gather the social-media material for this study.