Scottish Independence
Scotland will soon vote on whether to become an independent nation, and the vote is expected to be very close – close enough that social media could tip the balance. Yes Scotland has about 1.5 times as many Facebook likes as Better Together, but its engagement rate (ratio of people talking about the page to page likes) is about half that of Better Together. Overall, both sides are generating about the same volume of conversation. If we interpret likes as weak ties, and comments, shares, etc. as strong ties, this would imply that Better Together has a smaller but more loyal Facebook following. Unless the opposite is true among voters who aren’t active on Facebook, low turnout could increase the likelihood of a No vote.
http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/sep/17/scottish-independence-referendum-facebook-social-media
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29235876
http://policyscotland.gla.ac.uk/twitter-analysis/
A Yes vote (for independence) would also have implications for the British rail system, which is currently controlled by a national agency but will be split up if Scotland becomes independent. Scotland and (the remainder of) the UK would be likely to invest in infrastructure to speed up transportation within their own nation, at the expense of transportation between the UK and Scotland. This is an example of the prisoner’s dilemma: Scottish independence increases the choices available to Scotland and the rest of the UK, and each nation acts in its best interests, but both nations end up worse off.
http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2014/08/scottish-independence-death-of-national.html
http://www.rail.co.uk/rail-news/2014/railways-and-scotlands-referendum/