IF TWITTER WERE AN OPINION POLL... PETRO WOULD WIN ON SUNDAY

If Twitter were an opinion poll, the winners in Sunday’s Presidential Election (first round) in Colombia would be, in this order: Gustavo Petro, followed by Iván Duque, Sergio Fajardo, Germán Vargas Lleras, and Humberto de la Calle

DE LA CALLE IS THE (ONLY) OPTION FOR THE CENTRE

A key measure in the Twittersphere is the number of times a famous user – e.g., celebrity or politician – gets her tweets retweeted by her followers. Retweets show a strong allegiance between users and their leaders, and retweeting a message is usually perceived as an endorsement of the opinion contained in the original tweet. The more retweets and users retweeting your messages, the better

IN A MONTH OF DEBATES, INTEREST (AND AGGRESSION) REACHED NEW PEAKS

In April, election interest reached new heights on Twitter in terms of numbers of tweets and users involved in political discussion. Unfortunately, levels of online aggression also dramatically increased in what seems to be a reflection of the climate of violence on the ground thanks to episodes related to the arrest warrant against Santrich, one of the FARC’s leaders; the killing of Ecuadorian journalists; and the murder of a witness in the case of the false positives against Uribe

COLOMBIA’S 2018 ELECTIONS ON TWITTER

The analysis of December’s tweets shows the campaign has just begun on this platform. The language used by the different actors points toward some of the flags they intend to use to attract voters, but also how they react to the political events of the day. Among the candidates, the figures of Uribe and Santos are still too large to ignore, in numbers of tweets, reactions, and attention they attract. If candidates want to separate themselves from the recent political history and appear in front of the public as credible potential presidents, they will need to establish bolder profiles, create stronger reactions, and elaborate a defined language that sums up their main ideas. So far, only Iván Duque’s machinery seems to be doing all these thing

MARCH SEES AN ASTOUNDING 142% INCREASE IN ACTIVITY

The presidential campaign has begun with new impetus following the March 11th elections to Congress, the Easter holidays and the lack of merger between Fajardo and De La Calle. Extraordinary interest in the candidates’ debates echoes what can be detected on Twitter: the volume of campaign tweets has gone up from 1,870,709 (with 198,825 users) to 4,519,579 (334,861 users) - a growth of 142%- between February to March. All candidates’ followers have continued to grow steadily since February, with Petro way ahead of all others. Of course, this data needs to put in relation with the number of votes that the different candidates got in the March election. And there, Duque got a healthy headstart

ALLIANCES FOR 2018 COLOMBIA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS CAN YOU TRUST THE CANDIDATES?

Semana’s most recent poll puts Gustavo Petro clearly in the lead for voting intentions (23.4%), followed closely by Fajardo (21.6%) and with Vargas Lleras (14.8%) a distant third. De la Calle (10.6%) is fourth, and Marta Lucía Ramírez (7.8%), fifth. Many commentators try to figure out how these results will facilitate alliances after the March vote to Congress, and in the second round of the Presidential election. To test possible scenarios, we have analyzed Twitter conversations from January through the lens of relationships between candidates. That is, we are interested in who talks to whom, not only because elections are supposed to foster dialogue about issues of importance to citizens, but because these interactions might affect candidates’ future prospects. For instance, De la Calle has already said he will never get into an alliance with Vargas Lleras. Many voters would consider him untrustworthy –a sin with which a politician cannot live– if he changes his mind. Today’s interactions are all about building trust with followers and showing others’ followers they might not be such a bad option if their favorite candidate does not make it to the final

The Unpopularity of the Software Tester Role among Software Practitioners: A Case Study

As software systems are becoming more pervasive, they are also becoming more susceptible to failures, resulting in potentially lethal combinations. Software testing is critical to preventing software failures but is, arguably, the least understood part of the software life cycle and the toughest to perform correctly. Adequate research has been carried out in both the process and technology dimensions of testing, but not in the human dimensions. This work attempts to fill in the gap by exploring the human dimension, i.e., trying to understand the motivation/de-motivation of software practitioners to take up and sustain testing careers. One hundred and forty four software practitioners from several Cuban software institutes were surveyed. Individuals were asked the PROs (advantages or motivators) and CONs (disadvantages or de-motivators) of taking up a career in software testing and their chances of doing so. The results of this investigation identified 9 main PROs and 8 main CONs for taking up a testing career showing thatthe role of tester is perceived as a social role

MARZO MUESTRA UN ASOMBROSO INCREMENTO DEL 142% EN LA ACTIVIDAD DE TWITTER

La campaña presidencial ha comenzado con un nuevo ímpetu después de las elecciones del 11 de marzo al Congreso, las vacaciones de Semana Santa y la falta de fusión entre Fajardo y De La Calle. El extraordinario interés en los debates de los candidatos hace eco de lo que se puede detectar en Twitter: el volumen de tuits de campaña ha aumentado de 1.870.709 (con 198.825 usuarios) a 4.519.579 (334.861 usuarios), un crecimiento del 142%, entre febrero y marzo. El número de seguidores de todos los candidatos ha aumentado de manera constante desde febrero, con Petro por delante del resto. Por supuesto, este dato debe relacionarse con el número de votos que obtuvieron los diferentes candidatos en las elecciones de marzo. Y allí, Duque obtuvo una ventaja cómoda

ELECCIONES 2018 DE COLOMBIA EN TWITTER

l análisis de los tuits de diciembre muestra una campaña que recién empieza en la plata-forma. El lenguaje usado por los diferentes actores políticos apunta a algunas de las ban-deras con las que intentarán atraer a los votantes, así como da cuenta de sus reacciones a los acontecimientos políticos del día. A diferencia de los candidatos, Santos y Uribe siguen siendo muy activos en Twitter, generan reacciones y atraen mucha atención. Si los candidatos quieren distanciarse de la historia política reciente y ganar credibilidad como presidentes potenciales, deberán establecer perfiles más audaces, generar reacciones más fuertes y desarrollar un lenguaje que resuma sus ideas principales. Por el momento, sólo se podría decir que Iván Duque esté logrando estas metas