Weekly Report: Alberta Election for Week of Feb. 29, 2008

Going into the final day of the Alberta election campaign the Liberals have out of all of the political parties used the YouTube platform the most effectively, with their messages predominantly reaching the most viewers. The Alberta NDP video "In Your Corner. On Your Side" was the most viewed YouTube video during the last week of the Alberta Election campaign, and this week saw an increase in views of all NDP videos for the first time in the campaign. In fact, all of the parties with the exception of the Alberta PCs have positive viewership trends via the YouTube platform. The Alberta PC's messages were drowned out by videos from the Albertans4Change interest group. With the exception of the Alberta PCs, shades of the Albertans4Change "Ed Stelmach: No Plan" targeted campaign have been visible throughout the Alberta media and from all of the political party campaigns during the election. The Green Party also had an increase in the viewership of the AlbertaVotes2008 videos that were posted over a week ago. Since the Greens started with no videos circulating on YouTube, the AlbertaVotes2008 independent group should definitely be credited with helping to circulate the Green Party's message.

These final week YouTube trends reflect the growing consensus in the media that the Alberta political landscape has changed drastically since the Klein dynasty. The growing prediction among Political Scientists is that Albertans should be prepared for a more diverse Legislature after March 3rd, 2008. The significant increase in YouTube viewership during this last week of campaigning in all of the party videos could be an indicator that the increased number of Albertans who are still undecided voters are still searching for the party they will vote for come Monday. Overall, the YouTube viewership for the four weeks of the Alberta election campaign has jumped into the tens of thousands when aggregated, and can definitely be viewed as a vital source of web campaigning in the province under the logic that every vote counts.

Very little change occurred throughout the election campaign in the Facebook Top Five Groups. All but one of the top groups have consistently remained anti-PC. This indicates that the Web 2.0 front was used by the opposition and other parties' supporters for an attack purpose. One new group added to the Top Five Groups in the last week was "I'm voting for Ed Stelmach and the Progressive Conservative Party", which bumped the "Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta" into sixth spot.

NOTE: The Infoscape Lab will post one last week of Alberta Election analysis following the Monday election.

Facebook

Party Leader Facebook Supporters

1. Kevin Taft Personal Profile (Alberta Liberals): 743 friends (up by 13 from last week)
2. Ed Stelmach Fan Club (Progressive Conservatives): 461 member (up by 12 from last week)
3. Re-Elect Brian Mason, Edmonton Highlands-Norwood (NDP): 378 members (up by 15 from last week)
4. George Read (Green Party of Alberta): 227 members (down by 1 from last week)
5. Paul Hinman (Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta): 162 members (up by 51 from last week)

Top Five Facebook Groups for the Alberta Election

1. I’m Voting for Kevin Taft and the Alberta Liberal Team: 764 members (down 2 from last week)
2. Liberals in Alberta – We Do Exist: 504 members (no change)
3. Ed Stelmach is “Trying” to Destroy Alberta: 458 members (down 1 from last week)
4. Re-Elect Brian Mason, Edmonton Highlands-Norwood (NDP): 378 members (up by 15 from last week)
5. I'm voting for Ed Stelmach and the Progressive Conservative Party: 365 (new to the top five)
6. Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta: 360 (up by 7 from last week)

Other Facebook Groups of Note by Party

1. My Vote is for the Environment in the 2008 Alberta Elections: 248 members (up by 26 from last week)
2. Progressive Conservative Youth of Alberta: 207 members (down by 3 from last week)
3. Support Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta: 163 members (up by 38 from last week)
4. Alberta NDP: 135 members (up by 20 from last week)

YouTube

Ed Stelmach (Leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. TV Ad "Money" [1]	February 19, 2008	898	Lobby Group: Albertans4Change	Negative
2. Ed Stelmach - Don't Worry Be Happy [2]	September 25, 2007	293	Lobby Group: RealABPC	Negative
3. TV Ad "Ed Stelmach -- No plan? No way!" [3]	January 14, 2008	288	Lobby Group: Albertans4Change	Negative
4. "Plan" [4]	January 25, 2008	252	Lobby Group: Albertans4Change	Negative
5. TV Ad "Health Care Question for Stelmach" [5]	February 20, 2008	240	Lobby Group: Albertans4Change	Negative

Kevin Taft (Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. Kevin Taft: The Next Alberta [6]	February 13, 2008	908	Alberta Liberal Party	Positive
2. Alberta Liberal TV Ad #2: "It's Time" (30 sec) [7]	February 28, 2008	680	Alberta Liberal Party	Positive
3. Meet Kevin Taft [8]	February 5, 2008	494	Alberta Liberal Party	Positive
4. Alberta Liberal TV Ad: "It's Time" (15 sec) [9]	February 28, 2008	210	Alberta Liberal Party	Positive
5. Kevin Taft: Our Position on Royalties [10]	October 23, 2007	128	Alberta Liberal Caucus	Positive

Brian Mason (Leader of the Alberta NDP)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. Alberta's NDP - In your corner. On your side. [11]	February 22, 2008	937	NDP	Positive
2. Alberta's NDP - Taking Big Money out of Politics [12]	February 26, 2008	282	NDP	Positive
3. Alberta's NDP - Message from Brian Mason [13]	February 21, 2008	264	NDP	Positive
4. AUPE Labour Rally - Brian Mason [14]	October 28, 2007	104	Vlogger	Positive
5. Who Is Tim Stock-Bateman? I'm Tim Stock-Bateman [15]	February 3, 2008	93	NDP	Positive

George Read (Leader of the Alberta Green Party)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. PART 1/11: Alberta Leaders Debate - Opening Statements [16]	February 22, 2008	364	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral
2. PART 5/11: Alberta Leaders Debate - Oil Sands Development [17]	February 22, 2008	313	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral
3. PART 2/11: Alberta Leaders Debate - Need for Change [18]	February 22, 2008	299	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral
4. PART 6/11: Alberta Leaders Debate - Environment & Economy [19]	February 22, 2008	280	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral
5. PART 4/11: Alberta Leaders Debate - Need for Leadership [20]	February 21, 2008	238	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral

Paul Hinman (Leader of the Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. Closing Statement [21]	February 22, 2008	311	Wildrose Alliance Party	Positive
2. CBC's Politics - Paul Hinman's Debate performance [22]	February 15, 2008	230	Wildrose Alliance Party streaming CBC Media	Neutral
3. STALEmach [23]	February 14, 2008	117	Wildrose Alliance Party	Positive
4. Infrustruction [24]	February 22, 2008	114	Wildrose Alliance Party	Positive
5. A Message for Ed [25]	February 14, 2008	94	Wildrose Alliance Party	Positive

"Alberta Election"

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. Alberta's NDP - In your corner. On your side. [11]	February 22, 2008	937	NDP	Positive: NDP
2. Kevin Taft: The Next Alberta [6]	February 13 2008	908	Alberta Liberal Party	Positive: Kevin Taft
3. TV Ad "Money" [1]	February 19, 2008	898	Lobby Group: Albertans4Change	Negative: Ed Stelmach
4. Alberta Liberal TV Ad #2: "It's Time" (30 sec) [7]	February 28, 2008	680	Alberta Liberal Party	Positive: Kevin Taft
5. Meet Kevin Taft [8]	February 5, 2008	494	Alberta Liberal Party	Positive: Kevin Taft