Social media and electoral campaigns: Twitter as an information source in the Catalonian parliamentary election of #25N

Abstract

Journalists have integrated Twitter in their professional routines to spread news and track current affairs. This paper evaluates if the tweets about predictable news events can serve as an information source for journalists, on the basis of #25N, a hashtag linked to the Catalan Parliament elections on 25 November 2012. Results indicate that Twitter can be a source of alerts to detect incidents and unforeseen circumstances, and it also can serve as a complementary information source to follow events in progress, such as meetings, debates or polls. However, it disseminates more opinion than information, and the commentaries show an ambience favorable to Catalonia’s independence, in line with the majority of the post-election Parliament seats occupied by pro-independence parties. From this perspective, Twitter can work as a thermometer to probe public opinion, detect political trends or anticipate results.

KEYWORDS: Twitter, journalism, information source, #25N, elections, Catalonia.