The Budget Speech 2016 had social media abuzz with 43,680 conversations taking place. Opinions fluctuated during the build up to the speech, but on the day 18% of the conversation was positive, 21% was negative, and the bulk was neutral just sharing the information. Overall positivity towards the budget speech has increased by 11%, and there has been a small increase in negativity (2%), the biggest drop has been 12% in neutral conversation. The main topics of conversation were taxation as well as parastatals with 14% engagement each. Job creation was the next hot topic taking up 12% of the online conversation due to the minister's focus on using SMME's as a medium to create jobs.
Education received a low interest with only 6% engaging in the topic despite increased investment in the sector. Similarly, financial practices and management received low interest with only 6% engagement. Minister Gordhan himself was a hot topic of conversation with 17% of the conversation discussing his mannerisms and speech quality. The main contributors to the conversation were those with an interest in financial services, financial markets and personal finance. Geographically, Gauteng was the biggest driver of conversation (65%), followed by the Western Cape (19%) and KZN (8%). Despite the volatility on social media, minister Gordhan seems to have instilled confidence in the public that he will take every effort to protect the financial systems.
Data provided by youKnow digital using Crimson Hexagon.
