A few people asked me which issues were the most talked about online in the various elections taking place right now. So, I ran some analysis using Sysomos Heartbeat, one of the tools I’m using to monitor the fall elections, for the period ending this past Saturday (September 10) and found out a few interesting things.
The top three issues discussed online were common to all elections: taxes, education and energy. In that order. The only other issue all provinces shared in common is family. However, it should be noted that family is a fairly broad reaching term and may not always be discussed in the context of family-specific issues. Employment, economy and business rounded out the identified issues.
Manitoba
The top six issues and the number of mentions I tracked for each are:
- taxes (982 mentions)
- education (913 mentions)
- energy (737 mentions)
- economy (639 mentions)
- family (615 mentions)
- employment (544 mentions)
Most of the online chatter about the top three issues took place on mainstream media websites and Facebook.
Ontario
The top six issues and the number of mentions I tracked for each are:
- taxes (3,753 mentions)
- education (3,147 mentions)
- energy (2,674 mentions)
- employment (2,591 mentions)
- family (2,030 mentions)
- business (1,431 mentions)
Most of the online chatter about the top three issues took place on mainstream media websites and Twitter.
Prince Edward Island
- taxes (1,004 mentions)
- education (883 mentions)
- energy (728 mentions)
- economy (630 mentions)
- family (608 mentions)
- business (521 mentions)
Most of the online chatter about the top three issues took place on mainstream media websites and Facebook.
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