Analysis of Elections Using Social Listening in Japan

Abstract

An "Obama-style" election campaign that utilizes social media has now spread and is actively used all over the world. In Japan, however, Internet campaigning was not available until 2013, and even after the ban on Internet campaigning was lifted, campaigning structure cannot fully utilize social media due to regulations. On the other hand, since social media are enthusiastically used in Japan, social listening, through which information is gathered in a spontaneous manner, is useful. During the national election in 2016, 1,777,724 of postings containing political party names were collected, and results predictions were successfully made. This study analyzes national elections in Japan using social listening, where predictions were successfully made in the proportional representative electoral system.