1. The election(?) Use of the new media by federal political players in election year 2010 Dr Peter Brent Parliamentary Fellow 2010

2. “New media” URLs Youtube (2007 federal election) Facebook/Myspace etc Twitter “Web 2.0, 2.1 etc” Social networking

3. Twitter Like text messaging, limit of 140 characters People choose who they “follow” On computer or mobile/Blackberry/Ipod I follow: – all tweeting federal politicians (54) – All tweeting Canberra press gallery (22) – A few others.

5. Lots of hype? Like the technology itself, the “narrative” comes from the USA. Some overhype in the US. Even more when transplanted to Oz Informal discussions and writing: tweeting journalists see Great New Thing Politicians: old media as more important. Get your face on Channels 2, 7, 9 &10.

6. Twitter: some observations Politicians generally use it to get across messages. Most interesting? Scott Morrison (v Paul Howes) Journalists for social networking. General public joins journalists and other commentators for televised events, eg HoR Question Time, ‘Insiders’, ‘Q&A’.

7. Twitter: some observations Most prolific Press Gallery Tweeters: Latika Bourke (2UE); Bernard Keane (Crikey); Samantha Maiden (Oz) Tweeting Doyen (1) Michelle Grattan

8. A few tweeting statistics 54 federal MPs tweet (23.9 percent) 38 in House of Reps, 16 in Senate Labor: 15.7 percent tweet Liberal: 34.1 percent tweet Greens: 100 percent tweet Nationals: 0.00000 percent tweet

9. Tweeting statistics Average age of tweeting MPs = 47.2 (average age of MPS overall = 51.6) 31.5 percent of tweeters are female (30.1 percent of MPs are female) HoR AEC Geographic classifications Who?Inner metro Outer metro ProvincialRural All HoR29.328.325.019.0 Labor14.314.828.623.1 Liberal61.547.416.729.4

10. Tweeting statistics Tweeting MPs * Excludes retiring members LaborLiberal (shad)All Overall %20.5%48.9%28.8% In seat < 5% margin* 29.4%36.8%30.8% Cabinet10%41.2%NA Outer ministry 30.0%45.5% Parl Sec8.3%41.7%

11. WTF for? Why do politicians do tweet etc? Why do journalists tweet? Surveys and interviews

12. (Tentative) monograph structure 1. Introduction: Explaining web 2.0, what it is conceptually. Role in politics. Separating hype from reality. 2. Politicians and new media. 3. The journalists and twitter/new media. 4. The campaign: 5. After the election: what happened, what people think happened 6. Conclusion