GE15: Anwar Ibrahim Leads Social Media Reach And Engagements During 14-Day Campaign Period
However, despite the reach, netizens were mostly neutral in terms of sentiments.
Pakatan Harapan Chairman Anwar Ibrahim is in pole position in terms of the highest reach on social media compared to his rivals, according to research conducted by the media analytics platform, Meltwater.
Malaysia officially kicked off the 14-day campaign period on 5 November and over the weekend, the major parties launched their campaigns with large rallies in various locations around the country.
According to Meltwater’s analysis of online social media data of seven notable political candidates over the past week, Anwar Ibrahim has the highest reach (27.2%) with the highest engagement rate (40.8%).
Anwar also topped the charts when it comes to estimated reach with 72.9 million, followed by Caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri (53.2 million), Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) Chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (48.7 million), UMNO President Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (41.2 million) and Perikatan Nasional Chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (36.2 million).
Looking at the sentiment analysis, the online conversations were mostly neutral for Anwar with 57.3%. Meanwhile, negative sentiments take 23.4% of the pie followed by positive sentiments at 17%. The remaining 2.3% were mixed.
Ismail Sabri has the second-highest reach (18.1%) followed by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (19.8%).
In terms of positive engagements, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi leads the pack with 41.1% while Ismail Sabri has the highest number of negative engagements with 28.4%.
