Politweet founder Ahmed Kamal Nava added that Umno-Barisan Nasional had always had a greater reach on Facebook compared to other parties.
“(But) the main reason is a lack of policy decisions by PH to get Malaysians excited and hopeful about the future.
“Members of the public are not seeing any progress by PH so far,” he said, adding that this could be observed in internet users of all races.
According to studies of Facebook and Twitter activity during the May 9 polls last year, Kamal said, about 70% of Malay voters chose PAS and BN over PH.
“Since then, there has been no significant indication on social media of Malay voters becoming more supportive of PH.”
He said based on an analysis of political leaders on social media from May last year until January this year, former prime minister Najib Razak is gaining popularity while Dr Mahathir Mohamad is only maintaining his ground.
PKR president and prime minister-designate Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, is losing ground.
“Total interest in Najib from Malay speakers as of December, for those aged 13 to 65, was 10.16 million while for Mahathir, it was 3.87 million,” Kamal said.
“Meanwhile, total interest in Najib from Chinese speakers as of December for the same age group was 2.76 million. For Mahathir, it was 1.146 million.”
Among active Facebook users above the age of 21 who are interested in politics, Umno ranked first with 6.3 million views as of January.
This was followed by PKR (4.2 million), DAP (2.3 million), MCA (1.4 million), PAS (470,000), Gerakan (390,000) and MIC (170,000).
Kamal said Politweet studies also showed that bad news related to PH was shared more often than good news.
He gave the example of the sales and services tax (SST), reintroduced in September, which he said took many by surprise.
“There was a sense of betrayal among the people who were expecting a discount in prices after the goods and services tax was abolished but had no idea that SST was coming back.”
He also cited decisions on the reduction in subsidies and those affecting welfare and cost of living.
“When people read news about subsidy reductions, even if they are not affected, it creates the fear that something will affect them next.
“The U-turns in decisions by political leaders also make the government look incompetent and unreliable,” he said.
Political geo-strategist Azmi Hassan warned that while opposition onslaughts on social media are being done on an ad hoc basis, they will eventually become more strategic.
“When this happens, it will surely hurt PH, especially in the next general election.
“The negative perception that has been playing out in the virtual world will eventually result in the people losing confidence in PH.”
He added that Najib had proven adept in using social media, more so than other Umno leaders like Mohamad Hasan or Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, Oh Ei Sun, said opposition attacks on social media might affect PH’s core support base, many of whom are urban and supposedly more educated.
This would spell trouble for PH, he said, adding that internet users were now more susceptible to “opposition propaganda” due to disappointment over no quick results and the remission of voluntary online activism after PH took over the government.