Using twitter as a source of voice of customer data to understand the experience and needs of the Election Leaflets audience. A project for the Open Australia Foundation.

1. Audience experience of
Election Leaflets revealed
though Twitter
By Erietta Sapounakis

2. The process
• I searched Twitter for “@electionleaflets” as a
source of voice of the customer data. I took
screenshots to collect the raw data as screen
scrapers could only yield one week old results.
• I captured 17 months worth of tweets from
28April 2012 through to 30 September 2013,
which was just after the last federal election.
• The tweets were analysed using “affinity
diagramming”
– Twitter was the primary source of information. The
Election Leaflets website and Google group were
referred to during analysis to validate findings.
• Findings were shared on the 18th December
2013. They revealed opportunities to improve
communication about Election Leaflets and help
meet the needs of new audience members.
• Was too much importance placed on scant data?
Sure, but some data is better than none. This was
an experiment to see if Tweets would reveal
anything insightful about the experience and
inspire new ideas.
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3. Findings
Use
• Election Leaflets is used as a tool for scrutiny by political
wonks and journalists
• While some understand the role of Election Leaflets,
others assume a political interest jeopardising perceptions
of impartiality.
• Advocates promoting Election Leaflets as an archive may
diminish the monitoring value proposition. These distinct
activities are splintered across the two main channels.
Channels
• Twitter is an important acquisition tool but other forums
are harder to find.
• Twitter is an important channel for problem resolution used
by existing contributors.
• New audience members aren't aware of how to contribute.
• Twitter is an important acquisition tool but messages can
be missed.
Partners
• Partners are motivated by shared goals and skills.
• Contributors become advocates who promote the cause.
• There is audience appetite to get involved and hear more
news.
• Election Leaflets is promoted by key figures and
influencers.
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4. Use
Findings
• Election Leaflets is used as a tool for scrutiny by political wonks
and journalists
– Election leaflets engages political junkies keen to
scrutinise the democratic process
– Engaged users are familiar with the types of content and
tools
– Journalists monitor and cite Election Leaflets
• While some understand the role of Election Leaflets, others
assume a political interest jeopardising perceptions of
impartiality.
– Twitter users engage Election Leaflets in political debate
• Do people assume Election Leaflets has a political
position when they are defending their own?
• Is there a risk others could assume Election Leaflets
has a particular political position?
• Advocates promoting Election Leaflets as an archive may
diminish the monitoring value proposition. These distinct
activities are splintered across the two main channels.
– Conversations about questionable leaflets are had on
Twitter to verify content, and to hold parties to account
but this splinters engagement from the Election leaflets
website itself.
Opportunities
• Promote what content can be submitted besides leaflets i.e.
letters, outdoor signs, etc
• Show which leaflets are generating buzz.
– Consider how debate over a leaflet can be represented on
the site or on Facebook as well as Twitter.
– Promote conversations and news stories that scrutinise
leaflets on twitter, on the leaflet's page, on the blog, to
journalists.
• Inform followers about past scandals.
– to provide context around the need for election leaflets
– to help inform voters what to look out for
– Include this on a standard press release that can be
distributed before each election
• Reinforce impartial role and mission of Open Australia
– Create a copy template/policies to respond to users who
implicate Election Leaflets in political debate.
– Publish policies on the involvement of political members
on the Election Leaflets site to emphasise transparency.
• Find ways and/or invite others to provide context to add
meaning to leaflets.
– by relating leaflets to other democracy watching
platforms such as FactCheck, @conversationEDU
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5. Channels
Findings
• Twitter is an important channel for problem resolution
– Website problems are reported on Twitter e.g. missing form
fields, site errors
– Users request to have submissions fixed
• New users are not aware of how to contribute
– Users have no method to contribute content captured or on their
phone
– Users share content directly on Twitter
– Some are aware contributions can be submitted by post
– Users who are unaware of the website are unaware of how to
contribute content
• Twitter is an important acquisition tool but other forums are harder to
find
– Users learn of Election Leaflets through direct engagement on
Twitter from Election Leaflets or its advocates
– The Google group forum is not openly publicised and does not
appear on the website. (Rules of engagement are unclear)
• Twitter is an important acquisition tool but communication is not
always visible
– Advertising for volunteers can get lost in Twitter timelines
Opportunities
• Consider ways the upload process can anticipate contributor
problems.
– create tools to crop and rotate photos
– allow contributors to flag content for improvement
– allow contributors to provide feedback on form fields
directly after contribution to improve data integrity
• Promote Open Australia and Election Leaflets to mainstream and
alternative news sites Seek marketing and communications
volunteers to facilitate these tasks.
• Create a dedicated contact page listing all channels and forums with
details about what they are for. Promote the Google group on the
website.
• Invite all new volunteers to the Google group as part of an
introductory process.
• Use the Twitter bio to communicate timely messages
– Inform users on the many ways they can contribute leaflets -
on the website, by email, by mail.
– Add a call to action for submissions during elections
– Position Election leaflets as an archive during "off-seasons“
– Calling for volunteers
• Create a dedicated mobile app for content contribution.
• Consider how content posted on other forums can be added to the
site e.g. embedding/scraping twitpics
• Create a dedicated page on the site for volunteer drives and provide
more information about needed tasks. This will be findable for those
browsing the website and can be included as a link to calls for
volunteers on Twitter.
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6. Partners
Findings
• Partners are motivated by shared goals and skills
– Partners of Election Leaflets include government,
democracy activists, developers, and journalists.
– Partners promote Election Leaflets to their audience.
– Twitter is a forum for partner discussions.
– Sympathetic developers are motivated to share their
skills and ideas.
– Potential partnerships form publically at conferences.
– Voters in marginal electorates are motivated by the
importance of their contributions.
– Evangelists recruit contributors.
• Contributors become advocates who promote the cause
– Users are proud and excited to contribute.
– Some are competitive and proud of the number of
leaflets they have contributed.
• There is audience appetite to get involved and hear more news
– Curious users want news on elections, partnerships,
and volunteering tasks.
• Election Leaflets is promoted by key figures and influencers
– Political journalists are important in promoting
Election Leaflets.
Opportunities
• Promote appropriate hash tags to contributors to support
contributors publicising their own submissions.
• Provide information on the site about important partners
such as belowtheline_au and the National Library of
Australia.
• Create an Election Leaflets “In the news” page/blog posts to
promote reach and importance.
• Leverage the pride contributors feel by creating lists and/or
acknowledging top individual contributors.
• Create a FAQ page. List what content can be uploaded. List
which elections are covered and why.
• Create press releases to help promote activity to a wider
media cohort.
• Monitor and create lists of media partners to handover to
future PR volunteers.
• Continuously promote milestones that advocates are likely
to share, such as 20, 50, 100 etc published leaflets.
• Promote milestones for individual electorates on Twitter
that advocates are likely to share.
• Publish leader boards for individual contributors and
electorates.
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7. A journalist’s journey
This journey records the interaction between Election Leaflets and journalist Margo Kingston.
What opportunities are there for increased engagement?
Margo Kingston
@margokingston1
10,696 followers
(as of 16/12/2013)
Former Sydney Morning Herald
journalist and founder of citizen
journalism site
http://nofibs.com.au
• Current state • Future State
Prior
• Covering
federal
election at No
Fibs
15 March 2013
• Asks question on Twitter about leaflet
in Bendigo
• Twitter followers reply with photos
and information about the leaflet
• @Stokely and @PhonyTobyAbbott
inform Margot about Election
Leaflets
• Follower @pthr9 ask
@margotkingston1 how to add files
to @electionleaflets
• @Margotkingston1 asks how to
upload content to Election leaflets,
she is unaware of the website
@stokel;y @psyvret @geeksrulz
@electionleaflet Sarah, people are
asking how they upload to that
twitterhandle. Help!
• @Stokely and @PhonyTobyAbbott
reply with more instruction
30 April 2013
• Retweets
@electionleaflet
s 20 leaflet
milestone and
call for
contributions
May
• No engagement
28 June, 2013
• Live tweets and promotes
Open Australia and Election
Leaflets
• Hashtags #walkeys to reach
journalist audience
.@matthewlandauer of
@OpenAustralia - we give
people info and routes to effect
change. For example
@electionleaflet #Walkleys
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Future
• Margot
receives an
Election
Leaflets press
release
promoting EL
as a tool for
citizen
journalists
Future
• Margot’s
followers read
the EL twitter
bio which
provides
instruction on
how to
contribute
Future
• Margot
retweets EL
milestones:
-- first leaflet
received from
marginal
electorate
-- 500 leaflets
uploaded
Future
• EL blog post
on how
Election
Leaflets was
used on No
Fibs
• No Fibs story
on the Open
Australia
foundation

8. Affinity diagram
This is a qualitative research technique used in design to find themes and insights.
Emerging themes are expressed in first person to encourage empathy and emphasise the user’s point of view.
I searched Twitter for “@electionleaflets” as a source of voice of the customer data. I took screenshots to
collect the raw data as screen scrapers could only yield one week old results. I captured 17 months worth of
tweets from 28April 2012 through to 30 September 2013, which was just after the last federal election. These
tweets were used as the data points for the affinity diagram.
8

9. Use: Election Leaflets is used as a tool for scrutiny by the political wonks and
journalists
I like to browse leaflets by category
I wanted to keep an eye on political junk
mail myself
I find trends on EL interesting / I’m
promoting EL content
I’m a political junkie and election monitor
I scrutinise the political process with EL
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As a journalist I monitor and cite EL
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/the-heckler-i-was-
human-first-20130810-2rpcx.html
Election Leaflets is used as a
source of content for journalists
I find it interesting that EL is collecting
election signs, posters, and leaflets. (I’m
aware they collect more than leaflets)
Engaged users are familiar
with the types of content and
tools

10. Use: Election Leaflets is used as a tool for scrutiny by the political wonks and
journalists
I want content to be verified
I want more details so I can scrutinise
the leaflet
I engage others in discussion over published leaflet content
We’re actively monitoring the election
process for dirty tricks
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11. Can I upload material from past
elections?
Use: Advocates promoting Election Leaflets as an archive may diminish the monitoring
value proposition. These distinct activities are splintered across the two main channels.
I’m sharing news about EL mission to
archive material
Advocates promote Election
Leaflets as an archive (but does
this diminish the idea of it as a
monitoring tool?)
I don’t know if past election
material is relevant
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12. I’m engaging with EL in a political debate
I’m declaring my interests and
boundaries
Do people assume Election Leaflets has a political position when they are defending their own?
Is there a risk others could assume Election Leaflets has a particular political position?
Twitter users engage Election Leaflets in political debate
What role can politicians and party
members play with Election Leaflets?
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Use: Advocates promoting Election Leaflets as an archive may diminish the value
proposition of using it as a monitoring tool. These distinct activities are splintered
across the two main channels.

13. The form fields don’t accommodate what
I am contributing
A party is missing on the form
submission
I am reporting problems relating to the
contribution process via Twitter
I want you to fix a submitted leaflet
I’m reporting an issue via Twitter
Channels: Twitter is an important channel for problem resolution
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14. I couldn’t upload because I was on my
phone
Users have no method to contribute
content captured or on their phone
Channels: Not all users are not aware of all ways to contribute content
I mailed my contribution by post
Users who are unaware of the website
are unaware of how to contribute
content
I asked how to upload content to the
twitter handle/I identify election leaflets
with Twitter and not the website
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15. Channels: Twitter is an important acquisition tool but other forums are harder to find
I learnt of Election Leaflets through
direct engagement on Twitter
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/
openaustralia-dev
Bigger discussions are held on the
Google Group
Users learn of Election Leaflets through
direct engagement on Twitter from Election
Leaflets or its advocates
Other forums are not widely
publicised
15

16. Channels: Twitter is an important acquisition tool but messages can be missed
We’re recruiting for volunteers I missed the request to help
Advertising for volunteers can get lost in twitter timelines
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17. Our election activities are in line with Election Leaflets cause
I engaged with EL/OA at a conference
Partners: Partners are motivated by shared goals and skills
Partners of Election Leaflets include government services (the National Library), democracy activists, developers, and journalists.
I engage because I share technical skills
I have knowledge/an idea to contribute
I’m seeking to partner with OA/EL
https://www.facebook.com/94aYourBehaviourIsUnacceptable
Twitter is a forum for partner
discussions
Partners promote Election Leaflets
Potential partnerships form publically at conferences
Sympathetic developers are motivated to
share their skills and ideas
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18. I am competitive and proud about the
number of leaflets I contribute
I recruit others to contribute leaflets
I am proud and excited to contribute
Partners: Contributors become advocates who promote the cause
I’m excited to share my discovery of EL
I’m motivated to contribute as a voter in
a marginal electorate
I’m excited to promote the fact that I am
contributing leaflets
I’m an evangelist encouraging
others to contribute
Voters in marginal electorates are
motivated by the importance of their
contributions
I’ve found content that could go on
Election Leaflets
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19. Partners: There is audience appetite to get involved and hear more news
Curious users want news on elections, partners, and volunteering tasks
Who are your partners?
I’m excited about the ramp up of
election leaflets
I want to know what elections are being
covered
I want news of what Election Leaflets is up to
I’m interested in contributing
I want information about
volunteering tasks
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20. Partners: Election Leaflets is promoted by key figures and influencers (news)
I’m promoting the OA/El mission
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21. About the author
• Hello, I’m Erietta Sapounakis. I’m a human centred designer
– I research customers to understand and design better experiences for them and the organisations they
interact with. I work at Telstra’s Design Practice, as part of the Product Development and Design
group. In the past I’ve worked with the ABC, Foxtel, Expedia , ING Direct, Commonwealth Bank,
Westpac, St George, and others on customer experience, service design, UX, and digital strategy.
• I’m an Election Leaflets contributor and Open Australia Foundation fan girl
• I co-organise the Sydney Jobs-to-be-Done Meet-up
• I helped run the @Electionleaflets twitter account during the 2013 federal election
• You can find me on Twitter @erietta and my blog www.eriontheinterweb.com
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