Digital democracy - It’s not just television debates and the rise of the LibDems that has made this election different. The extent to which social media has played a part in campaigning can be debated, but there can be no denying that the landscape is very different from 2005. Echo Research will be sharing some major new research on influence, media consumption habits and how the three main parties are fairing in the social media space.

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3. Echo Research UK 2010 General Election Ben Lloyd © echo

5. 1 About Echo Research © echo

6. About Echo Research Echo has supported 500 world-class clients: Winner of 70 Industry Awards, including Platinums & Golds for Integrated Research All Echo research complies with the MRS Code of Conduct, ESOMAR, CASRO & ISO 9001:2008 20-year track record in communication and reputation research globally - media content analysis, stakeholder evaluation and reputation measurement Offices in London, Paris, New York, Singapore Members of UN Global Compact 50 staff + 150 analysts

7. From Output to Outcome © echo THE ORGANISATION values, objectives, strategies ACTIVITIES messages sent by the organisation OUTPUT messages received by audience media analysis market research OUTCOME Audience choices / behaviors Advocacy / 3rd party endorsement Recruitment / retention Brand Equity/Brand Share Regulation Valuation THE AUDIENCE Values & expectations Driver Analysis OUTTAKE / IMPACT audience perceptions Market research

8. Publicity-based Research © echo © echo Echo shows IT plays major role in corporate ‘green’ initiatives

11. 2 2010 UK General Election © echo

13. © echo 184,396 Tweets 9.4 million 4.1 million 29 per second 142,795 Tweets 27 per second

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16. 3 The Research © echo

18. 4 Top Level Results © echo

19. © echo Source: Echo Sonar News and Social Media Coverage 6 th - 26 th April 2010 ___ ___ ___ Conservatives dominate news and social media ----- Social Media Online News ITV Debate SKY Debate Manifesto launches

20. Conservatives lead in setting agenda © echo Source: Echo Sonar News and Social Media Coverage 6 th - 26 th April 2010

22. TV leads all sources of influence Q: Which of the following sources of information do you refer to on the General Election, the candidates and issues? Echo Research Poll, Base 1024 adults nationwide 18 April 2010 Respondents

23. TV also tops list of most trusted sources Q: Which of these sources do you trust the most for providing reliable information? Echo Research Poll, Base 1024 adults nationwide 18 April 2010

24. BUT Labour Leader least favoured on TV Source: Echo Sonar News and Social Media 6 th - 26 th April 2010

25. 5 The Case for Social Media © echo

27. It’s The Economy, Stupid – Social Media best reflection of voter concerns © echo Source: Echo Sonar News and Social Media 6 th - 26 th April 2010 % SOV

29. © echo Facebook support for LibDems outstrips others With so many young and undecided voters, will this be the UK’s Facebook election?

31. 6 So where does this leave us? © echo

33. Two-Horse Race Becomes Three Q: If the General Election were tomorrow, which party would you vote for? Echo Research Poll, Base 1024 adults nationwide 18 April 2010 % Respondents

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37. “ Nick Clegg donned the Obama change mantle - and stole the U.K.'s first televised campaign debate. There’s a new kid on the political block in Britain after today’s debate.” thedailybeast.com 16/4/10 “ While many can agree that Nick Clegg performed well. My question is this. Does he have the charisma, the authority and the personality to lead Great Britain? Would he look like Mr ordinary along side Barack Obama?” bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/ 16/4/10 “ It was interesting to see Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was the leader featuring highest in the twitter trending topics. It was also interesting to see “I agree with Nick” as a trending topic – not because everyone on twitter did agree with Nick, but because Gordon said the phrase a number of times.” blog.myspace.com/marcnobbs 16/4/10 ...if the Liberal Democrats are -- as they appear to be - on the edge of serious political power, it will be worth taking a closer look at what some of them actually believe. http://corner.nationalreview.com 22/4 Gordon Brown (Prime Minister) and Cameron tended to hear a keyword or phrase and then launch into an obviously prepared speech on the topic. http://technorati.com/ 20/4 “ While the stunned Conservative and Labour leaders no doubt hope this spike in popularity will fade in the coming weeks, the Lib Dems’ policies may well prove in tune with top priority popular issues” nakedcapitalism.com 19/4/10 “ Nick Clegg I think benefits from being the new kid on the block and with novelty comes curiosity. But also with novelty will come now increased scrutiny.” guardian.co.uk/politics/blog 19/4/10 Right now, on Twitter, there's a mad parody movement to blame everything in the world on Nick Clegg... Let’s see if that explodes anyone’s brains www.indecisionforever.com 23/4 The even bigger story is that Labour comes third but Gordon Brown still clings to the Premiership. And I'm not talking football. If that happened I can foresee marches on Downing Street. And I'll happily be at the front! iaindale.blogspot.com/ 24/4

38. Metrics : good starting point but.... © echo

39. © echo The Times, Peter Brook

40. © echo The Times, Morten Morland

41. © echo “ The even bigger story is that Labour comes third but Gordon Brown still clings to the Premiership. And I'm not talking football. If that happened I can foresee marches on Downing Street. And I'll happily be at the front!” iaindale.blogspot.com/ 24/4

42. © echo “ It was interesting to see Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was the leader featuring highest in the twitter trending topics. It was also interesting to see “I agree with Nick” as a trending topic – not because everyone on twitter did agree with Nick, but because Gordon said the phrase a number of times.” blog.myspace.com/marcnobbs 16/4/10

43. © echo “ Right now, on Twitter, there's a mad parody movement to blame everything in the world on Nick Clegg... Let’s see if that explodes anyone’s brains” www.indecisionforever.com 23/4