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FINE GAEL AND Fianna Fáil have spent over €100,000 between them since the start of the general election campaign on adverts on Facebook and Instagram.
In the last full week of campaigning, both parties ramped up their adverts on the social media platforms with Fine Gael spending just under €25,000 and Fianna Fáil spending €31,420.
In many cases, the parties specifically mention one another in their adverts, taking aim at each other over their record on a number of issues.
But, despite paying tens of thousands of euro to appear in constituents’ news feeds, it is Sinn Féin which is by far the party people engage with most on social media with 47% of all interactions – likes, comments and shares – on Facebook last week, according to data from CrowdTangle.
And, on Instagram, Michael Healy Rae is still the most popular politician. Of all politicians on the platform in Ireland, the Kerryman currently has 32% of all interactions.
Social battleground
As well as on the doorsteps and in the media, the battle to win votes in Saturday’s general election has also been fought online over the past number of weeks.
By paying for adverts on Facebook and Instagram – Twitter has banned political advertisements – parties can pay for these messages to appear in front of people who would not otherwise have seen them.
Through targeted Facebook ads, political parties buying ads can select an age group, gender or particular area they would like to target.
In one advert seen around 300,000-350,000 times primarily by men and women in their 20s and 30s, Fine Gael urged voters to not let “Fianna Fáil wreck our economy all over again”.
In another advert specifically aimed at people in Kerry, Fianna Fáil promotes its candidate John Brassil and says that 11,000 people are on a waiting list to have a procedure at Kerry General Hospital. “If you think this is ok, then leave Fine Gael in government,” the advert says.
Many of the videos produced by Fine Gael and advertised on Facebook are slick and well-edited, focusing on the wider topics that it says will improve if the party is returned to power.
The voices in the videos are recognisable as party TDs, but they don’t always feature that TD doing a piece to camera. Whereas Simon Harris is front and centre of its pledge to “hire more nurses, more doctors and add more beds” in the health service, Eoghan Murphy is heard but not seen in an advert promising to increase the supply of new houses and apartments.
Fianna Fáil’s adverts focus on bigger issues but also emphasise what individual candidates are up to in certain constituencies.
Here’s a breakdown of what the parties have spent in the past week:
Sinn Féin’s appeal
Many of the adverts currently running on Sinn Féin’s account feature leader Mary Lou McDonald.
The party is currently running many adverts on Instagram with frequent messages of “there is an alternative” and “vote for change”.
While the other two main parties have spent over €50,000 each on adverts since the campaign started, Sinn Féin has spent just €13,764.
After spending just under €10,000 across the first two weeks, it spent just €3,838 last week.
The appeal of the party on Facebook extends beyond paid-for adverts, however.
It has double the amount of page likes than Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil put together, and had a 47% share of all the likes, comments and shares for political parties on Facebook in the past seven days.
People Before Profit are in 2nd with 10% of the interactions on Facebook, with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil both on 8% with Aontú in 5th on 6%.
It must be noted, these engagement figures aren’t indicative of the most popular parties on Facebook given that many comments and shares could be negative towards that party.
Outside of the box
Instagram is completely different medium to Facebook and the photo/video sharing network is being used by candidates in a number of ways.
The most popular by far is Kerry independent Michael Healy-Rae.
He has 32% of all the likes and comments among candidates on Instagram in the past seven days.
His posts range from the simple to the bizarre. The latter sees Healy Rae photoshopped in instead of the quarterback who won the Super Bowl at the weekend with the Kansas City Chiefs.
A video posted on Monday that, at the time of writing, had been viewed over 1,600 times, is the Kerryman reading out mean tweets about himself.
Green Party candidate for Clare Róisín Garvey is the second most liked and commented-upon politician on Instagram, with outgoing independent Tipperary TD Michael Lowry in third place.
One trend that has emerged in recent days is candidates sharing photos from out on the canvass, showing notices at houses indicating the candidate can already rely on number one votes from those inside.
Like Willie O’Dea. And Maurice Quinlivan.
And then there’s this from Michael Lowry.
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I’m voting Sinn Féin. And just to debunk the myth about SF voters, I started work at 6am.
@Ebeneezer Goode: not many thumbs up yet Eb, you’re mates will boost the thumbs in about 6 hours, don’t worry!
@Wheresmyjumper: you sound desperate, don’t panic FFG are sinking and you can’t do anything
@Ebeneezer Goode: I’m going to give them a vote this time too. I start at 9 but get up at 6.20 to commute. I would love a family sized apartment near the city instead of a house in the suburbs so I had more free time. I wish our city was planned like a real city.
@Ebeneezer Goode: started work at 6am and commenting on the journal by 6:51am. Your productivity levels must through the roof……
@Ebeneezer Goode: me to on botha counts. I’m voting Sinn Feinn because I think we will get a big global shock financially that will damage our economy. If and when that happens I want a party in government that will prioritise the protection of our society over the gains of global market gamblers.
Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Labour & The Greens sold us all out for higher interests.
The real shadowy figures.
Never again should we have people in power who will let the destruction that was unfolded on people’s lives here happen while at the same time paying out on market gambling debts of the mega rich.
@Ebeneezer Goode: Same , though I started work at 8am, I had to leave home at 5am. This is because despite the fact I have a well paid job, due to the housing issues FF and FG have done nothing about for my entire lifetime I can not afford to live in Dublin even though I work here… At this stage I will take any change from being governed by FF/FG!
@Ebeneezer Goode: Im voting SF and never got job seeker benefit in my life, the only party who acknowledges low earners….
I’m voting for change .
I’m voting SF.
@Willy Mc Entire: we know. You keep saying. Feel free to explain why they’d change anything.
@Willy Mc Entire:
we know. Is it shinnerbot policy to post this on every article… if you repeat it at nauseam you will get traction and brainwash a few dopes.
Hopefully they pay you well for it, otherwise please get a life and stop posting the same thing over and over. Anyone with a brain will not be influenced by this nonsense.
@Goban Saor: probably because they are not a party of pocket stuffing parasites like FFG are?
@Gus Sheridan: just beholden to a bunch of ex-terrorists and criminals from Belfast.
All politicians want is your vote and when they get in they will do sweet f all for you. They are all the same
@David O Brien: exactly I don’t know why people get so worked up about voting for people who only pretend to care for them
I’m more worried about how much they’ve spent of leaflets. I can hardly open the front door some evenings with the amount of rubbish that has accumulated during the day.
@Σ ΛΛ ΛΛ Θ: collect all the leaflets for each party
Separate them and address them to the parties concerned in an envelope
Post it without any stamp
Let them pay the postage!
If enough people do the same it might just sink in we don’t want their litter
Michael Healy Rae is brilliant. I’d vote for him if I could.
@John Considine: why can’t you…
@John Considine: He’s good entertainment value, a bit like Willie O’Dea. But that’s about as far as it goes.
Any one see michael healy rae on the news last night with the young convicted thug behind him.
I’m voting for Sinn Fein. 220 bucks a week on the dole, how am i suppose to survive on that. I want those on the high income to pay more tax to support people like us who don’t work.
@Daithi De Roiste: you sad person….
@Peter donnelly: I’m very sad, and hungry!
I don’t even particularly think their candidate in my constituency is any good, but nearly sure that SF will get my No1.
If you see an advert by FF/FG on Facebook just report it as “misleading/scam” and if enough do it, they will remove it !
I would genuinely be worried about my job if sinn fein got in. I work in a multinational and if sinn fein got in they would tax them much higher.
Not happy with ff and fg but sinn fein are too extreme.
have your say