About me

About me

My name is Tristan Hotham, I am a PhD Researcher at the University of Bath.

 

29084 Tristan Hotham. Dept of Politics, Languages & International Studies. HSS Staff Portraits 11 Oct 2016. Client: Hannah Cook – Polis

I study, social media, elections, party politics and campaigning.

Within the field I specifically have an interest in social media, elections, political parties and campaigning. My specialisms are UK political parties and the use of Facebook. I utilise a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to open the locked chest of social media campaigning.

I hold two Master’s degrees from the Universities of Bath and Durham respectively, alongside a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Exeter. I currently work on a ESRC funded PhD at the University of Bath – my thesis is titled “Examining the impact and effectiveness of Facebook on party campaigns”.

My thesis examines the Facebook phenomenon and its role as a campaign tool. Using extracted Facebook data, interviews and supportive external data sources such as the BES and Whotargets.me, this study will examine the impact Facebook is having as a campaign tool online, alongside its wider offline implications for parties campaigning in an era of party change. The thesis will examine pages content approaches effectiveness in garnering engagement, alongside examining the impact Facebook is having upon how parties are campaigning.

Alongside my academic interests I enjoy public engagement,  as such I have been featured in:

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Please also see my politics blog – and my YouTube channel.

“In the information age, man and spider both live in a web.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

Cleggmania 2.0 – Facebook has hired the ex-deputy prime minister and former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg as their head of global affairs and communications.

Social media

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Akin to the shift from Web 1.0 to 2.0, Clegg like the web has reinvented himself. Today he is embarking on a new journey to be the go-between for a mega corporation and fractious mega governments.cleg

It is a genuine challenge and a job that is difficult to define, however although problematic, Clegg has a genuine opportunity to bridge the divides between the corporation, the people and national and international governments.

As such it is a step in the right direction for both, and naysayers are under-appreciative of the consideration Facebook have put into the move. However the proof will be in the pudding, with change sorely needed, I will be watching Clegg closely, before I declare a refreshed Cleggmania.

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