An analysis of over 3,200 social media posts about Aung San Suu Kyi on her birthday showed: - Support for her remains strong in Myanmar, with 100% of posts expressing trust and 43% expressing sadness over her age. - Negative sentiment was highest in regions with many ethnic minorities, like Myitkyina, and lowest in areas with many ethnic Bamar like Magwe and Mandalay. - Internationally, sentiment was more mixed, with 68% of posts positive and 27% negative, reflecting the international criticism of her handling of the Rohingya crisis.

63. 6/21/2018 Support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Still Strong on Social Media
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Burma
Support for Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi Still Strong on Social
Media
By NAN LWIN 19 June 2018
YANGON — An analysis of Myanmar’s social media users by The Irrawaddy shows that
“trust” in the country’s de facto leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, remains unanimous,
though “negative” posts are still relatively high in heavily ethnic minority areas.
The Irrawaddy used the social media analytics program R to analyze online comments
about the state counselor on the occasion of her birthday. The democracy icon, who
swept to power in the 2015 elections on a wave of popular support after years of house
arrest under military dictatorship, turned 73 today.

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in Mawlamyine, Mon State, on June 14. / State
Counselor’s Office / Facebook

64. 6/21/2018 Support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Still Strong on Social Media
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Her international reputation may have taken a hit since August, with some slamming
her for failing to speak out against a military crackdown in western Rakhine State that
has driven 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya to Bangladesh, many with reports of
arson, rape and murder by security forces. At home, however, social media sentiment
for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remains wildly positive. Even global sentiment remains more
positive than negative.
According to social media analytics site Hootsuite, Myanmar has some 16 million active
social media users as of this year.
R, meanwhile, allows a maximum 3,200 Twitter and Facebook posts to be analyzed for
any search term.
An analysis of 3,200 posts in Myanmar on Tuesday using #Aungsansuukyi and “Aung
San Suu Kyi,” respectively, showed a 100 percent “trust” rate, as defined by the
program. Forty-three percent expressed “sadness” over her frail health and advanced
age. Fourteen percent expressed “surprise,” “disgust” or “anger,” but the numbers were
too low for the programs to analyze those sentiments in detail.
The Irrawaddy also analyzed posts by region, looking at the capital of each state or
region. Positive posts were highest in those cities with the largest proportions of ethnic
Bamar. Magwe led the way with 87 percent, followed by Mandalay with 72 percent and

65. 6/21/2018 Support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Still Strong on Social Media
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Yangon with 68 percent. Positive posts in Mawlamyine, Myitkyina and Hakha were all
under 20 percent.
Conversely, negative posts were highest in regions with the most ethnic minorities.
Myitkyina had the highest proportion of negative posts with 45 percent, followed by
Sittwe with 38 percent and Hakha with 27 percent. Bago and Pathein, which have
among the highest proportion of Bamar, had the lowest proportions of negative posts,
at 2 percent each.
Internationally, support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was also far more muted.
A separate analysis of 3,200 posts about her globally on Tuesday, using the program
VADER, showed that 68 percent were generally positive and 27 percent were generally
negative.
Positive Negative
Total negative and positive score on social media
Get the data • Created with Datawrapper

66. 6/21/2018 Support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Still Strong on Social Media
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Negative sentiments score on Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday
Myitkyina
Sittwe
Hakha
Mawlamyine
Dawei
Sagaing
Yangon
Taunggyi
Naypyidaw
Mandalay
Monywa
Magwe
Pathein
Bago
45
38
27
20
20
13
12
12
10
8
5
3
2
2
Get the data • Created with Datawrapper

67. 6/21/2018 Support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Still Strong on Social Media
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/support-daw-aung-san-suu-kyi-still-strong-social-media.html 5/5
Topics: Social Media
Positive sentiments score on Aung San Suu Kyi's Birthday
Magwe
Mandalay
Yangon
Taunggyi
Monywa
Sagaing
Pathein
Naypyidaw
Sittwe
Bago
Dawei
Mawlamyine
Hakha
Myitkyina
87
72
68
50
42
32
30
28
27
20
20
15
12
12
Get the data • Created with Datawrapper
Nan Lwin
The Irrawaddy