Lib Dem MPs more likely to be on Facebook
Most MPs use Facebook for one-way communication not campaigning
Today, the Hansard Society launches MPs on Facebook, the first in a new series of short Digital Papers examining how parliamentarians are using social media.
MPs on Facebook shows that while over half (51%) of Liberal Democrat MPs have a presence on Facebook, the figures for Labour and the Conservatives are 15% and 9%, respectively.
The research identified three main types of usage: campaigning, communication and personal:
- 46% of MPs are using Facebook primarily as a communications tool
- 31% of MPs are using Facebook primarily to canvas and campaign
- 13% of MPs are using Facebook primarily for personal information
- 10% of MPs' Facebook pages are ‘inactive'
The research also examined the frequency and nature of online activity of MPs' Facebook pages:
- 42% of MPs publish at least one item daily
- 17% regularly make multiple posts in the same day
- 23% publish no more than once a week
- 6% publish less than that
Andy Williamson, Director of the Hansard Society eDemocracy Programme, commented: ‘Using Facebook as a one-way publishing medium ignores its real benefits. The key to harnessing this new generation of tools is conversation and engagement where citizens can communicate with their MPs and get a response. Most MPs have a long way to go before they can claim to truly understand the power of social media.'
For further information, contact Virginia Gibbons, Head of Communications at the Hansard Society on 020 7438 1225 / 07812 765552
Editors' Notes
- The Hansard Society is the UK's leading independent, non-partisan political research and education charity.
- MPs on Facebook is the first in an occasional series of short Digital Papers from the Hansard Society eDemocracy Programme.
- The Hansard Society eDemocracy Programme's thought-leading research has been a formative part of an emergent digital Britain from the internet's impact on Parliament, to better government engagement with citizens and the potential for civil society to harness digital media. The eDemocracy Programme undertakes research and produces publications and commentaries with a focus on online political communication and citizen engagement, exploring the many faces of digital inclusion, citizen engagement, political campaigning and parliamentary process.