Musings

Did Facebook Likes predict election results?

Generally, yes. Our conclusions following the 2011 Canadian elections are in and they are visually represented in the just released infographic.

A big round of thanks to all those involved from Dare and OptimumPR: Angele Beausoleil, Dana Dansereau, Tsung-Yin Tsai, Michael Brynjolfson, Patrick Daggit, Mengxi Liu, Jerome Leclere, Cassandra Parker and David Brodie.

Want more details regarding the stats and how this tool can be used to equate value to a Facebook LIke? Contact us at socialelection at gmail.com

Hamburger Polls serve up "Bun Official" predictions

Two restaurants are serving up politics with burgers: New Westminster’s Burger Heaven and Lick’s Hamburger and Ice Cream. Customers are voting for their favourite federal leader by choosing one of five burgers.

Since the beginning of the 2011 campaign, Burger Heaven has sold 1,169 burgers and as of Wednesday the “bun-official” results were as follows: Harper had 46 per cent of the decided vote, Layton 32 per cent, and Ignatieff had 12 per cent. Green party Leader Elizabeth May trailed with only seven per cent of the decided eats.

To date, the Lick’s Burger Poll has the Conservatives ranked No. 1 with 40 per cent of the votes, the Liberals are at 25 per cent, NDP at 19 per cent and the Greens with 11.

Read the full story at http://yhoo.it/jg5f2o 

Postmedia Partner with Dare and Optimum PR on Social Election Experiment

We are very pleased to announce that earlier this week all Post Media websites across Canada started publishing results from the Social Election Experiment. We look forward to getting more feedback as more people from across the country have a chance to provide their input.

As Election Draws Closer NDP Gaining Facebook Likes

With the election now less than a week away, many of the same trends that are being reported in public opinion polling can also be seen on Facebook. (http://www.vancouversun.com/news/decision-canada/surge+dominates+talk+federal+campaign+trail/4685960/story.html)

In several provinces the NDP appear to be gaining Facebook likes faster than any other party, and Jack Layton has now surpassed Stephen Harper for the first time since we began tracking their popularity on Facebook at the beginning of the campaign.

Michael Ignatieff remains the most popular party leader on Facebook with over 66,000 Likes, but Layton is gaining more quickly than any other candidate in the country, having gone from 37,000 to 57,000 likes during the campaign. Stephen Harper growth was been flat, going from 46,000 to 52,000 likes so far.

The NDP has also now taken first place as the most liked party on Facebook in B.C, Saskatchewan and the North West Territories and the party is also making substantial gains in Ontario and Quebec. Interestingly in Quebec the Bloc who has been losing momentum to the NDP is seeing a slight increase in support over the past two days.

One thing is clear - the final outcome of #elxn41 is much more uncertain now than it was a few weeks ago and this has become a much more interesting race to watch.

Posted by David Brodie (@brodiedavid)