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The #PenelopeGate case: a look inside the information bubbles of campaigners

The continuity of François Fillon's campaign provides an excellent opportunity to delve into the information bubbles of campaigners. This article shows that the most active campaigners do not consume information in the same way: the framework, the website and the decoding are completely different. Here's a quick look via Visibrain into bubbles that aren't necessarily windows, to understand where everyone stands.

I. Summary

Different media, different information frameworks

There are indeed information bubbles among the biggest campaigners for each of the candidates. Libération for Mélenchon, 24matin for Macron, Sputnik for Marine Lepen and Le Figaro for Fillon (radio silence from Hamon, so no article). [caption id="attachment_7623" align="aligncenter" width="753"]

Top 3 information domains for campaigners for each of the candidates with the query "Fillon"[/caption] These domains are not just newspaper branding, but a framing of the information. So we have access to the same facts, but not to the same framing or decoding of the information. In the case of the far right, the information is not just 'framed' or decoded differently, it is put into context by other information or other frames of thought. Information about the problems of other candidates who represent the system lends credence to the wider thought that this is all a targeted cabal. (Find the most tweeted articles in part III). This framing is also reflected in the selected expressions and hashtags of the various candidates, which are deciphered in Part III. [caption id="attachment_7623" align="aligncenter" width="779"]

Top hashtags without retweets from the information domains of the campaigners of each of the candidates with the query "Fillon"[/caption]. [caption id="attachment_7625" align="aligncenter" width="775"]

Top expressions without retweets from the informational domains of the campaigners of each of the candidates with the query "Fillon"[/caption] The positioning of the various campaigners is also particularly identifiable and sometimes reveals different strategies:

We're not making too much of it on the side of Macron's troops , we're just happy about the apples falling on the other side of the wall.
Radio silence from Hamon's side, where activists only regret the fact that it overshadows his speech and his positions.
On Mélenchon 's side, the ridiculousness of the situation is underlined, with no official statement.
On the right, Le Pen is careful not to criticise Fillon because of his legal troubles. They are therefore skilfully using communication to take advantage of the opportunity to criticise the judicial system in the pay of the Socialists. So we agree on the substance, while taking care not to criticise the form en masse. Just to remind us that Fillon is an adversary.
Fillon's web presence is an after-sales service. The press conference served to overshadow the news of the indictment and to provide an overview. The web serves to remind us of the "manhunt" aspect.

As a result, if we take all the conversations this time, we get a crowd polarised between pro-Fillon and Le Pen on the one hand, and the rest on the other.

II. Methodology

To complete this article, I first carried out a gigantic mapping of the 10M tweets between January 2017 and 15 February 2017 on all the tweets around the presidential election. (Candidate names, slogans, pseudonyms, generic hashtags, etc.).

This allowed me to isolate the communities of the different candidates and enabled me to draw up a list of the 1,000 most influential activists (more mentions/retweets) in each category. I carried out a summary filter to remove journalists and media from each community. These lists are based on mentions/retweets only. So someone can be part of the Mélenchon community without being a Melenchonist, but still be retweeted very often by pro-Mélenchons. One of the best examples is Paris 8 University, which finds itself in the fachosphere because it never tweets about the presidential election, but was mentioned by this community because of a news item about Hamon, which was denounced by the far right. However, I have tried to filter out most of these cases manually, but there may still be some left. In addition, in the top tweets for the various communities, a tweet may appear because it is retweeted by activists without the author of the tweet being an activist in the category. (This is particularly the case for Melanchonists). Once these communities had been put into a panel, I queried this panel using the phrase "Fillon in the last 24 hours.

III. Details by activist group

Benoit Hamon

Benoit Hamon is completely silent on the Fillon affair. The only mentions in the morning are those that make Benoit Hamon's proposals seem completely inaudible given the ambient noise: https://twitter.com/lucas_zajdela/status/836884799897939972 https://twitter.com/lorenzosalvador/status/836888542248828931 Mélenchon's house

For Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the conversations are centred around the hashtags FillonGate, #Penelopegate and #FillonDegage. In the tweets, it's the "political assassination" and the indictment that stand out, while in the top tweet, it's not so much the activists who stand out, but the various jokes and other potshots at Fillon coming from accounts critical of him (and therefore not pro-Mélenchon activists) that stand out: https://twitter.com/zoomabus/status/836933652428767232 https://twitter.com/nrenard75/status/836872755169673216 https://twitter.com/ornikkar/status/836881150589222913 https://twitter.com/tropical_boy/status/836903493583716352 Libération stands out in the field:

While in the top tweets, Fillon is clearly under attack:

Marine Le Pen's

On Marine Lepen's side, even though #Fillonenprison and #penelopegate feature prominently in the top hashtags, it's Macron who's in the lead. It would appear that Fillongate is nothing more than a plan by the system (see expression "objective of the system" in the top) to put Macron in front. The expressions highlight more the "instrumentalisation of justice". In the top tweet, it's a particularly interesting balancing act, since although they support Fillon, the candidate attacked by the "system" and by the "instrumentalisation of justice", they are attacking his form, the only sticking point they have managed to bring out. Finally, and this is rare enough within the Front National to be worth highlighting, this communication strategy comes from the top down, meaning that it is the FN's politicians who are expressing themselves and emerging from the conversations. https://twitter.com/f_philippot/status/836905388532457472 https://twitter.com/fandetv/status/836903726514323456 https://twitter.com/gregoryroose/status/836904360294637568 https://twitter.com/nicolasbayfn/status/836923551521329152 https://twitter.com/jleonardelli_fn/status/836908453310394368 In the articles, the framing is clear: they are trying to destroy the candidates of the right, while the others also have a lot to answer for:

Sputnik, Dreuz and FrDeSouche are in pole position:

At Macron

For Macron, it's his indictment that is the main focus. On the whole, however, they are playing it very softly. The aim is not so much to attack Fillon as to show that he is a candidate who justifies Macron's stance of neither left nor right and of political renewal. At most, we're rubbing our hands together for the UDI and the elected representatives who are joining Macron. https://twitter.com/xavier_alberti/status/836903246358851585 https://twitter.com/xavier_alberti/status/836914031088779264 https://twitter.com/rubin/status/836998362863964160 https://twitter.com/axelkahn/status/837188389241819136 https://twitter.com/pierre_lt/status/837061093914726400 https://twitter.com/david__ggt/status/836963250679971840 https://twitter.com/enmarchearras/status/837051341163937792 The articles are very international (mainly because the communities identified in the methodology are not very homogeneous and it is clearly the candidate of the international newspapers), criticising Fillon and rubbing the hands of the newcomers:

Quite progressive newspapers like Le Temps, Le Monde and others.

Fillon's

On Fillon's side, they are relaying his words and showing their support. They're appealing to the masses. But there's nothing very obvious in these top expressions and top hashtags, unlike the top tweets, which clearly show that the support is there and that people are denouncing the judicial harassment. https://twitter.com/ydekerdrel/status/836996975048425472 https://twitter.com/exbabacool/status/836889742755102723 https://twitter.com/florencedesruol/status/836951442133028869 https://twitter.com/florencedesruol/status/836956677249302528 https://twitter.com/vgoyet/status/836947261968039936 https://twitter.com/zebodag/status/836903106793340933 https://twitter.com/actu_politique3/status/836912941098233856 The types of information shared hatch the treatment of Le Figaro, Valeurs Actuelles, BFM and its own site.