UK MP Expenses Scandal Continues to Generate Buzz

by Stephen Logan on 29th May 2009

The Parliamentary upheaval caused by the MP’s expenses scandal shows no sign of abating. Using the latest statistics provided by Blogpulse, it’s clear that our elected officials are still getting a pretty rough ride online as well as in Westminster and their constituencies.

If nothing else, this indicates the power that bloggers and professional news sources have. The blanket coverage, with the news represented from all angles and viewpoints, has been merciless. Major stories don’t simply appear and disappear like they may have done previously. Buzz can grow and continue to snowball through the ever-growing online blogging community as illustrated below.

This chart highlights the popularity of the term 'MPs Expenses'

Blogpulse gives a fantastic insight into what is popular at any one moment in time. It shows the peaks and troughs that all topics go through with clear charts and statistics. Anybody can simply search for a specific term or even a selection of different stories to find out exactly what is hot and identify those trends early.

The graphic below shows the relative popularity of three events that may well have people talking in the days to come. This compares the popularity of the terms ‘FA Cup’, ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ (both of which reach their final stage on Saturday) and ‘MP’s expenses’, just for a marker. From this we can see that Britain’s Got Talent is head and shoulders above the rest in terms of blog mentions and I think it would be a big surprise if that trend didn’t continue over the weekend too.

Comparative popularity of Britain’s Got Talent, FA Cup & MP’s Expenses

Whilst the results shown above may not be particularly useful to many businesses, it does give a clear indication of what the rest of the world is talking about. Plus you have the opportunity to shape the words searched for to suit your particular sector, there’s no boundaries to who or what can be analysed.

Whilst it can be a passing dalliance of interest and a bit of mischievous fun (see below for the comparisons of Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and talent show finalist Susan Boyle for clarification), understanding where the buzz is before anyone else can give you some real leverage, particularly in the competitive world of blogging.

Gordon Brown lags a long way behind both Boyle & Obama online