With the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations set to descend on Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, for the G8 Summit, Portland has been monitoring conversation on Twitter and over the next two weeks will be providing analysis and roundups on the top themes, discussion and individuals leading the debate.
This year’s summit, under the presidency of the United Kingdom, focuses on the three themes of advancing trade, ensuring tax compliance and promoting greater transparency. The UK government have also organised a series of events in the lead up to the summit, the first being the social impact conference on 6th June and over the weekend, the Nutrition for Growth meeting in London.
The G8 is a natural target for NGOs and campaigning groups, who have launched their own initiatives to complement or influence the agenda. Beyond the G8 hashtag, the most successful on social media over the weekend was the Big IF, a coalition of charities calling on the G8 to take action to end hunger:
NGOs have also led the way on top tweets, posting four of the top five most popular tweets of the last 24 hours. Oxfam’s International account (@oxfam) and Spanish account (@oxfam_es) take 2nd, 4th and 5th, with the ONE campaign in 3rd. The most shared tweet, however, was Canadian columnist Stephen Lautens’ critical take on G8 security costs, receiving 87 retweets:
Ireland’s security bill for G8 – $80 million. Canada’s G8/20 security bill – $1 billion. Because North Ireland never has security problems.
— Stephen Lautens (@stephenlautens) June 9, 2013
Dear @g8: every second, poor countries lose an area of land the size of a soccer field to banks & investors. #StopLandGrabs#G8
Ireland’s security bill for G8 – $80 million. Canada’s G8/20 security bill – $1 billion. Because North Ireland never has security problems.
— Stephen Lautens (@stephenlautens) June 9, 2013
— ONE (@ONECampaign) June 10, 2013
Líderes del @g8, hay 18.857 negocios registrados en 1 dirección de Islas Caimán. Parece muy dudoso. Acabad ya con los #paraísosfiscales#G8
— Oxfam en español (@oxfam_es) June 9, 2013
Take 30 seconds: join our social media Thunderclap to ask @g8 leaders to #StopLandGrabsow.ly/lJrVa#G8
— Oxfam International (@Oxfam) June 9, 2013
The most ‘authoritative’ Twitter accounts mentioning G8 reflect the influence of campaigning organisations online. The UN Foundation lead, followed by Oxfam and Ashoka, the social impact organisation. Lauren Laverne, who played a role in the Big IF, gave visibility to the campaign through her large fan base, while The Guardian comes in as the top news organisation at five.
1. @unfoundation
2. @Oxfam
3. @Ashoka
4. @laurenlaverne
5. @guardian
The most active countries on Twitter in the past 24 hours are the UK followed by the US. As host, we expect the UK to continue to take the top spot as the overall volume increases as the summit approaches.
We will be closely following the tweets and trends around the G8 over the coming days and hope you will follow our updates on the Portland Notebook.