Advocates say Kevin Rudd’s support for marriage equality, plus the achievement of marriage equality in New Zealand, are the reasons why a key Facebook supporters’ page is now the nation’s number one political Facebook page.
Overnight, independent website www.yoursocialmonitor.com published web traffic results that showed “Gay Marriage Rights in Australia” is the number one political page in Australia and in the top 50 of all Facebook pages in Australia. The statistics are available here.
Australian Marriage Equality deputy director, Ivan Hinton, said,
“Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd’s, support for marriage equality has resulted in a remarkably positive reaction online.”
“It is another reminder to federal election candidates that supporting marriage equality is one of the most effective ways they can reach out to young voters.”
“The engagement and enthusiasm of the wider community on the page clearly shows the broad support there is for change and the frustration that many everyday Australians feel because progress is too slow.”
Ben Cooper, founder of the Gay Marriage Rights in Australia Facebook page, said,
“We have over 213,000 active members and this number is increasing daily. In the past 7 days alone our page reached a record 1.4 million Facebook users.”
“Our most successful post originated from Australian Marriage Equality which celebrated New Zealand’s recent achievement. Called “New Zealand says yes” the graphic was ‘liked’ by an astonishing 35,000 people and seen by 1.6 million people. It was a pivotal, joyous moment for New Zealand and one that, clearly, many Australians celebrated.”
“Our page has been pivotal in engaging young people in this campaign – many of whom had no previous involvement in social activism prior to liking our page. The very fact that Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has highlighted young people as one of his main reasons for supporting marriage equality really shows just how successful our page has become in building support for, and bring about marriage equality in Australia,” said Mr Cooper.
For more information contact Ivan Hinton on 0419 124 826, Rodney Croome on
0409 010 668 or GMRA founder, Ben Cooper on 0405 279 093.
Author: Ivan Hinton
Publication: AME Media Release
7 July 2013