The General Election, in Facebook-land

Thanks to the General Election I was supremely unproductive yesterday. I am actually not 100% sure what I feel about the results themselves. But there is change in the air that makes it hard not to be excited. And I am optimistic enough to believe that the change will be for the better.

Anyway, there has been a lot said about the role of social media in this election. I was certainly thinking that as I watched the updates roll in on Twitter while Channel News Asia did their millionth 'analysis' of the constituencies and candidates and then started talking about Osama and golf results (!?!). But sometimes the role of social media can be a little...overblown?

I did a brief survey of a bunch of Facebook fan pages this morning, and here is what I found.

(data correct at time of collection, ~10am EDT; almost certainly no longer correct)

So apparently the returning officer who has burned "pursuant to Section 49, Subsection 7E, Paragraph A of the Parliamentary Elections Act" into our brains forever is better liked than the PM. The ranting can start now.

I will add that if you use Facebook likes as an actual measure of things liked, I am like that grumpy old man who hates the world and waves his cane at small children. For the record, I actually like small children, except on planes.