Six fictional voters may reveal how social media feeds differ during the Senedd election

A BBC Wales reporter will monitor the social media feeds of six fictional voters—created from NatCen research—across major platforms to observe what people see in the run-up to the Senedd election on 7 May.

For the next five weeks a BBC Wales reporter will follow the social media feeds of six fictional voters as the Senedd election approaches. The profiles were created from research by the National Centre for Social Research and were expanded into fuller characters with AI-generated images. Accounts were set up on several major platforms to see how different interests and locations affect what appears in a feed. The project aims to describe the variety of content people are shown during the campaign period. Key details: - The six fictional voters are named Lauren, Paul, Claire, Rohan, Siân and David. - The profiles are based on six voter categories from NatCen research and are placed in different Welsh constituencies. - Accounts were created on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and X; the profiles use AI-generated images and do not post or have followers. - The researcher interacts with content by liking posts, watching videos and following pages to map what appears in each feed. - Monitoring runs through 7 May and the observations will be presented as part of BBC Wales' election coverage. Summary: The project will track what research-based profiles see on major social platforms during the Senedd campaign, noting differences in news, political and other content across feeds. It is described as a descriptive exercise rather than a scientific study and is intended to inform BBC Wales' coverage. Further reporting of the observed patterns will follow the monitoring period.