[2019 Policy Address]

【Policy Address—Clear Skies After the Rain?】

The new policy address was announced this Wednesday, with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor previously stating that the cover would be in sky blue, expressing hope that Hong Kong would soon see clear skies after the rain and make a fresh start.

uMax Data collected public opinion data on the 16th and 17th, using the artificial intelligence big data system xMiner (formerly known as uMiner) to analyze how netizens view the new policies proposed by the government.

The volume of discussion related to the policy address mainly follows the fluctuations of government actions, peaking at 8 PM on the 17th when the Chief Executive held a "Let's Talk - Policy Address" session on Facebook.

In contrast, traditional methods of responding to the policy address, such as press conferences and Legislative Council Q&A sessions, generated comparatively lower volumes, indicating that utilizing new platforms is more effective in capturing the attention and response of netizens.

Additionally, we found that the "angry" reactions on Facebook closely align with the overall volume trend, suggesting that increased discussion corresponds with heightened dissatisfaction among netizens.

Facebook accounts for 70% of the volume among the three major media, while forums still hold 27%. Netizens are generally most concerned about policies related to "land and housing," and discussions about "welfare distribution" are higher on forums compared to other media.

The recent policy address proposed multiple land and housing policies, with the controversial "Lantau Tomorrow" from last year's policy address still receiving significant attention. However, the new policy of "relaxing the mortgage percentage for first-time buyers" garnered slightly more buzz, making it the most discussed housing strategy in this policy address. Other land-related policies did not attract much attention from netizens and saw very low levels of discussion.

Observing the most emotional posts on Facebook, many of the top posts are from non-establishment positions, with the post from "100Most" receiving the most likes and laughter reactions, while Apple Daily garnered the most shock and sadness reactions. Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's live-streaming session became the post with the most anger reactions.

It is worth noting that in recent months, the posts with the most emotional reactions on Facebook have largely been live-streams; however, among the six posts this time, only two were live video segments, indicating that netizens remain interested in purely text and image posts.

【Did Carrie Lam engage you? 】

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor held a Facebook Live broadcast titled "Let’s Talk — Policy Address" at 8 PM on the 17th, setting a new high in public attention since the release of the Policy Address.

During the one-hour live session, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor received over 50,000 comments and over 10,000 reactions, averaging nearly 900 comments and over 200 reactions per minute. Reactions accounted for almost 80% of all engagement.

The word cloud indicated that the term "housing" was the only significant topic discussed regarding the policy, showing that the Policy Address did not shift public focus and reflecting that many netizens were not very concerned about the policy content.

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