1. ^aDepartment of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, UK. E-mail: d.a.wills@bham.ac.uk
2. ^bDepartment of Computing Science, The University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK. E-mail: stuartr@dcs.gla.ac.uk

Abstract

This paper uses a case study of Facebook to examine the potential use of social networking sites (SNS) for political advantage. Drawing upon contemporary surveillance studies and information technology approaches, it aims to provide insights from these for the study of British politics. The paper uses a model of a constituency election to show the ease and effects of SNS data-mining in support of political campaigning. In doing so, it examines the political implications of machine readable personal data, the design of information systems, and the problems of inductive heuristics and social sorting.