David Cameron speech: Twitter reaction to benefit cuts, NHS and Russell Brand
David Cameron's speech to the Conservative Party conference was hijacked by campaign group Ukuncut – on Twitter.
Analysis of the Twitter reaction to the Prime Minister's speech by Impact Social showed the response was largely negative and that an attempt by Russell Brand to help UKuncut commandeer the hashtag #CPC14 was successful.
Here he comes! @David_Cameron – hijack his speech on twitter with #CPC14 and what WE WANT for #ourNHS, our public services etc
— UK Uncut (@UKuncut) October 1, 2014
Read what you need to know about David Cameron's speech here.
As this donut shows, 45 per cent of tweets about the speech were negative while only 11 per cent were positive, in contrast to a good reception in the media.
In fact, a look at trending topics during and after the speech showed UKuncut managed to drive more of the conversation than either of the most-mentioned speech themes, the NHS and benefit cuts, and over doubled mentions of a good speech.
According to Impact:
The Prime Minister’s impassioned defence of the NHS generated 14 per cent of mentions, however most of these ridiculed the Conservative record on the health service. Other announcements on abolishing exclusive zero-hour contracts and the creation of 100,000 “starter homes” generated 6 per cent of the total mentions.13 per cent tweets vented at the Prime Minister over cuts to benefits. Disappointingly for the Prime Minister, his message of “vote UKIP get Labour” only generated a meagre 2 per cent of mentions.And finally, the Prime Minister’s big announcement of tax cuts, 11 per cent of mentions analysed, was met with derision and questioning of what cuts would be needed to pay for the giveaways.
