Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington researcher Dr Mona Krewel will be running the New Zealand Social Media Study (NZSMS) during the 2023 election campaign.

Over the coming weeks, the study will analyse how political parties and their leaders use social media to target, inform, interact with, mobilise and persuade voters in this election.

Dr Krewel and her team of 10 research assistants will publish weekly findings from their social media content analysis of salient campaign topics, the dominant political actors in the parties’ campaigns, and their campaigning tactics, including the use of negative campaigning and dis- and misinformation.

The study’s findings and commentary will be published on the University’s website on:

• Friday 29 September 2023 (based on data from 11-17 September 2023)
• Friday 6 October 2023 (based on data from 11-24 September 2023)
• Thursday 12 October 2023 (based on data from 11 September-1 October 2023)
• Friday 20 October 2023 (based on data from 11 September-12 October 2023).

“The impact of social media in elections is growing worldwide. We therefore need to know what is going on in social media campaigns at election time.

“The New Zealand Social Media Study will provide evidence-based commentary on the social media campaigns of parties and party leaders in this election,” she said.

The work continues the NZSMS’s 2020 election study, which provided insights into the social media communication of parties and their leaders throughout the campaign.

“For the most part, parties and their leaders in 2020 campaigned responsibly and we only found mis- and disinformation in 2.5 percent of the more than 3,000 Facebook posts analysed.

“However, our research has found mis- and disinformation has doubled over the past three years. Now, about 5.2 percent of Facebook posts use mis- or disinformation and this may well increase in the run-up to election day.”

Compared with many other countries, there is still healthy political discourse on social media in New Zealand, she said.

“However, the speed with which the spread of mis- and disinformation is increasing in Aotearoa makes it more important than ever to carefully monitor social media campaigning and weigh in with evidence-based, non-partisan academic commentary during the election.”

The NZSMS is an independent academic project and not affiliated with any political party.

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