Interpreting Hashtag Politics ─ Policy Ideas in an Era of Social Media

Why do policy actors create branded terms like Big Society and does launching such policy ideas on Twitter extend or curtail their life? This book argues that the practice of hashtag politics has evolved in response to an increasingly congested and mediatised environment, with the recent and rapid growth of high speed internet connections, smart phones and social media. It examines how policy analysis can adapt to offer interpretive insights into the life and death of policy ideas in an era of hashtag politics.

This text reveals that policy ideas can at the same time be ideas, instruments, visions, containers and brands, and advises readers on how to tell if a policy idea is dead or dying, how to map the diversity of viewpoints, how to capture the debate, when to engage and when to walk away. Each chapter showcases innovative analytic techniques, illustrated by application to contemporary policy ideas.

Stephen Jeffares is a lecturer at INLOGOV, School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham UK. He is co-author of Hybrid Governance with Chris Skelcher and Helen Sullivan. His work draws on text analytics and Q methodology to understand changing debates surrounding public policy and public services.