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Social Media Conservative Party Ed Miliband

How a teen's #Milifandom eclipsed the #Cameronettes campaign on Twitter

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

April 22, 2015 | 12 min read

The two front runners in the 2015 general election have acquired the most unlikely of fanbases on social media in the form of teenage girls.

Utilising a social media savviness usually reserved for intense One Direction debates, a teen fandom emerged online over the past few days for Labour leader Ed Miliband and to a lesser extent David Cameron of the Conservatives.

The duo replaced Niall, Harry and Zayn as the focal point of a creative campaign of (sometimes creepy) photoshopping and support.

Buzzfeed reports that 17-year-old student Abby sparked the #Milifandom hashtag with the following tweet:

Miliband thanked Abby for her support:

The interaction sparked a Twitter photoshop frenzy.

In response, the #Cameronettes emerged, although it was largely subverted by the now-swelling Milifandom.

The Cameronettes hashtag was first dubbed by 21-year-old student Charlie Evans in response to the Milifandom – but has failed to gain the same leverage online.

He told the Telegraph: "I was browsing Twitter and I saw that #milifans was trending. I laughed at how ridiculous the whole thing was so decided to mock it slightly by suggesting the alternative hashtag, #cameronettes.

"A little bit later I checked out Twitter and saw that somebody had setup an account for this very hashtag. The person behind the account has done a good deal of spamming and it appears to be now trending.”

Social Media Conservative Party Ed Miliband

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