PETALING JAYA, May 5 — The number of Facebook users showing interest in the 14th general election rose by nearly million this month, up from 6.9 million in April and prior to the dissolution of Parliament.
According to social media researcher Politweet, users showing express interest in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) as well as Opposition parties rose to 3.1 million from 2.2 million in the same period.
Active searches for BN-related content fell by nearly 10 per cent, however, to 3.6 million in that time. For Opposition parties, this rose from 800,000 to 1.1 million.
Despite the fall in activity, BN maintained its lead on the social media platform with 6.7 million users viewing content related to the coalition, versus 4.2 million for Opposition parties in aggregate.
“Opposition parties combined can reach up to 53.85 per cent of the market of FB users interested in politics. This is an increase from 43.47 per cent in April,” Politweet said.
“An increase in mixed interest is important for parties to reach supporters of other parties, along with fence-sitters. High levels of interest are neither positive or negative, but it is important to maintain high levels for campaign messages to spread.”
Facebook is expected to play a significant role in the online battle for votes during GE14, along with other platforms such as Twitter and WhatsApp.
It was considered the primary platform to share political news and opinions for Malaysia’s previous election in 2013.
But “likes” and “shares” do not necessarily translate into votes, Politweet founder Ahmed Kamal Nava told Malay Mail last week.
“Fifty-two per cent of Malaysia’s Facebook users are based in KL and Selangor, but only 21.83 per cent of Malaysia’s voters (as of 2017 Q4) are in KL and Selangor.
“Opposition supporters are concentrated in KL and Selangor so you can expect a similar concentration in the ‘likes’ for Opposition FB pages.”
