Twitter use by three political leaders: an exploratory analysis

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Online Information Review

ISSN: 1468-4527

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Document Information:
Title:	Twitter use by three political leaders: an exploratory analysis
Author(s):	Noa Aharony, (Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel)
Citation:	Noa Aharony, (2012) "Twitter use by three political leaders: an exploratory analysis", Online Information Review, Vol. 36 Iss: 4, pp.587 - 603
Keywords:	Communication, Exploratory analysis, Political leaders, Social networking sites, Twitter
Article type:	Research paper
DOI:	10.1108/14684521211254086 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Abstract:	Purpose – This study aims to understand how three political leaders – the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu; the Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron; and the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama – communicate through Twitter. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents an analysis of tweets produced between August and October 2010 by three political leaders, using statistical descriptive analysis and content analysis. Findings – The research shows that the US President tweets more than the other leaders, with the British Prime Minister tweeting the least, and that all three leaders use Twitter for both transparency and outreach. Originality/value – As Twitter has become widespread over the last few years, and several studies have focused on Twitter and its impact on different sectors in our society, it is interesting to focus on political leaders' use of Twitter.