Will April's Facebook 'likes' predict the outcome of May's general election?
Thursday, April 30, 2015 - 06:00
in Psychology & Sociology
Using Facebook to express support for politicians and their parties is standard practice for voters these days – but does how many 'likes' a party has before an election have any bearing on the eventual results? A new study of the 2014 Indian election published in the Asian Journal of Political Science suggests that it does. Knowing that "clicking the 'like' button on a Facebook fan page could be considered as an expression of liking or an act of lending support", Francis P. Barclay from the PSG College of Arts and Sciences in Tamil Nadu and his colleagues analysed the number of 'likes' the leaders of the Congress, BJP and AAP parties received on their fan pages in the days leading up to the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections.