Performance of Special-Interest Voting Advice Applications in the 2023 Finnish Parliamentary Election
Roman, Evan (2023)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023052245968
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023052245968
Tiivistelmä
Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) have become one of the most popular media for voting advice in recent Finnish parliamentary elections. Since their introduction to the Finnish political landscape in 1996, VAAs have grown in their usage by the electorate. Some organizations in Finland have developed their own special-interest VAAs. Although research exists about VAAs hosted by large media companies in Finland, there is a gap in research about special-interest VAAs hosted by organizations. This thesis analyzes the performance of special-interest VAAs in the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election from the perspective of search engine performance. A VAA is implemented for a non-profit organization —Intakt rf.
The datasets for evaluating the search engine performance of Intakt rf’s VAA came from the search engine consoles of Bing and Google during the first 15 weeks of 2023. The data about the number of participating candidates was collected from the websites of other special-interest VAAs hosted during the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election. The data about the indexability of webpages on these VAAs was collected from Bing and Google. The cost of hosting Intakt rf’s VAA is also reported.
The results demonstrated that many VAAs have problems that prevent people from finding them through search engines. Intakt rf’s 2023 VAA generated organic search traffic during the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election. The search engine performance of Intakt rf’s 2023 VAA showed the potential reach a special-interest VAA could have during an election.
The datasets for evaluating the search engine performance of Intakt rf’s VAA came from the search engine consoles of Bing and Google during the first 15 weeks of 2023. The data about the number of participating candidates was collected from the websites of other special-interest VAAs hosted during the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election. The data about the indexability of webpages on these VAAs was collected from Bing and Google. The cost of hosting Intakt rf’s VAA is also reported.
The results demonstrated that many VAAs have problems that prevent people from finding them through search engines. Intakt rf’s 2023 VAA generated organic search traffic during the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election. The search engine performance of Intakt rf’s 2023 VAA showed the potential reach a special-interest VAA could have during an election.