Edmund: The Saint of Saints? Timothy R. Gleason Department of Journalism University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Unpublished Paper  Abstract The Mesocyclone process of social media communication is applied to the Saint Edmund for England campaign, intended to restore Edmund as national patron saint. The 2012-2014 campaign was the second attempt at restoration, but it was the first with the opportunity to utilize social media. The Mesocyclone helps explain why the campaign failed, notably because few social media messages were made, there was a lack of engaging visuals, and few opportunities for buy-in.  Edmund: The Saint of Saints? If you were English, which person would you choose as your patron saint? A king of East Anglia that battled the Vikings and was killed when he wouldn’t renounce his faith to the pagans, or a foreigner who probably never visited English and didn’t killed the dragon of his mythology? This is the question posed by organizers of an unsuccessful 2013-2014 campaign to reinstall St Edmund over St George as the patron saint of England. This paper analyzes the “Saint Edmund for England” The campaign uses “Saint Edmund for England” and “St Edmund for England” without differentiation. The standard abbreviation in England for Saint is “St” and not “St.” In order to remain consistent with usage, this paper adheres to the English style of no period to close the abbreviation. campaign at the intersection of history, campaigning, and social media. St Edmund for England was an unsuccessful appeal to the hearts and minds of tourists, as well as for correcting history. St George is more mythical than reality, and the building of his myth negatively affected the profile of St Edmund. This campaign, and those like it, was played out in the media. Due to the various concepts of identity in England, a media campaign has to appeal to the different senses of self-identity and national identity. To persuade England to revert to the old hero, campaigners have to convince the public St Edmund is more English and more worthy while fighting through the information clutter. For the campaigners, St Edmund for England promotes a logical return to English history, due to St Edmund having preceded St George as the nation’s patron saint. Furthermore, there are economic interests tied with the honor. Because St Edmund is associated with East Anglia (the region of Norfolk and Suffolk counties), there is a perceived economic benefit to the region. The campaigners sought not just the title of patron saint for St Edmund, but also a national holiday in respect to St Edmund, which would encourage tourism to and throughout East Anglia. This region isn’t necessarily the first choice for tourism because of the alternatives, such as cosmopolitan London, the beach city with cultural fringe elements of Brighton, the Roman-influenced Bath, the traditional and picturesque Cotswolds, and the towns-and-gowns of Oxford and Cambridge. East Anglia has a moderate geography with small hills and mild rivers, and it currently lacks the draw of book lovers to Shakespeare country. This paper identifies challenges that the campaigners encountered, and places the campaign in the context of the Mesocyclone process of social media. The Problem: Restoring St Edmund The St Edmund for England campaign’s mission is to restore St Edmund as England’s patron saint. To achieve this goal, the campaign strived to overcome a tradition based on habit or disinterest, as well as overcome the practical problems of creating awareness and action. Simply put, how does a campaign convince the English to drop St George in favor of St Edmund when they don’t seem to care much about either one? The saints’ backgrounds Both St Edmund and St George are recognized for their steadfast Christian faith in face of opposition, which would characterize them as martyrs. But while St Edmund may have been English, St George was considered the greater fighter of the pair. For campaigners, a national patron saint should be someone who represents England, embodies Englishness, and is English. Because St George has only visited England in legend and without documented support, he fails the test of authenticity. In contrast, St Edmund’s legend is closer to fact. It is helpful to review the highlights of their lives, and to attempt to separate fact from fiction. The since-sainted Edmund was a king in East Anglia during the Late Saxon Age from 855 through 869. East Anglia faced invasions by Danes as late—if not earlier—as 841 by up to several thousand men. The raiders wanted the material rewards gained from battle, as well as political rewards. King Edmund fought the invaders but eventually lost. According to R. Rainbird Clarke (196), “[He] was captured, tortured by archers while bound to a tree, and finally beheaded” in 869 AD (pp. 154-6). As the story continues, it becomes noticeably less convincing. The legend has it that raiders left his head elsewhere, to be found by a wolf that guarded it from the other wild animals. Hearing the cries of “Here, here, here,” King Edmund’s supporters found the head and reattached it to his body. The remains of his body have been under debate because of various claims that the body was hidden or transported to France. The other saint in question, St George, may have been born about 280 AD in what is now Turkey, and he became an officer under Diocletian, a Roman emperor. George refused to renounce Christianity after it had been prohibited by Diocletian and despite the ruler’s personal request. In response to this refusal, Diocletian had George beheaded in 303 AD. George’s standing in England was established after Edward III assigned the symbols of his Order of the Garter to George’s name. George’s rise to patron saint came after Henry V’s soldiers won the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 AD, and when Henry V referenced him in a speech. The St George flag—a red cross on white—became the flag of the Church of England, as well as the flag flown by the Mayflower on its voyage to America (The Royal Society). A myth developed portraying pre-sainted George as a heroic figure on horseback who rescued a princess from a dragon. This myth evolved from earlier portrayals of George as a debater and victim (British Broadcasting Company, date unknown). The little confirmed information on pre-sainted George likely contributed to such myth-making, including the adaptation of pagan stories into glorious tales with St George portrayed as the hero. The image of St George with his red and white flag is historically inaccurate. The English Crusaders marked the cross on their tunics to differentiate themselves from their enemies in battle, and this became the symbol for St George. Despite the construction of a heroic saint for England, it was reported only one of five English know the date of St George’s Day (McCartney, 2014). The campaigns’ backgrounds The low recognition of St George’s Day on April 23, along with his minimal association with England, has led to two recent campaigns to restore St Edmund as patron saint. St George would not be without a job should the title revert to St Edmund, because St George is the patron saint of an estimated 17 countries (Woodger & Haugh, 2013). Not surprising, St George’s widespread popularity has been used as a reason to switch to a more emblematic saint of England, Edmund. The first campaign for a petition to change patron saints was held in 2006 (British Broadcasting Company, 2006), but without the current social media tools. The county of Suffolk formally named St Edmund its patron saint in 2007 after the national campaign failed (British Broadcasting Company, 2007). In both 2006 and 2013, BBC Radio Suffolk presenter Mark Murphy was a vocal member of the campaign. For the 2013 campaign, Greene King brewing company took on a supporting role. The brewery runs a pub and museum in the community of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, so it has an inherent connection to the saint. Based on the source of press releases found online, the Greene King press office participated in the campaign. Press releases for all matters of Greene King business can be found here: http://www.greeneking.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=40. Those seeking information on the campaign will have to click through more recent news releases. Methodology This analysis uses the Mesocyclone model of social media communication to understand and explain the campaign to return St Edmund to the position of patron saint of England. While a relatively new tool for analysis, this explanatory model of the social media and event process offers researchers guidance and flexibility. Furthermore, it has already been conducted on the subject of English nationalism and values (citation withheld). Mesocyclone and theory It is important to develop tools for understanding the use of social media. Linda M. Gallant and Gloria M. Boone (2011) described social media in a very useful manner that helps support the reason for this development: Social media are a platform for personal and public rhetoric where individuals, groups, corporations, governments and social movements attempt to influence people and the public. The use of social media shows social bonds; whether, people are in agreement or dissention such as in political communication, product uses, or health advocacy communication (p. 242). The Mesocyclone aids in expressing the challenges faced by media planners in crafting, sharing, and recruiting others to participate, whether formally or informally, but in support of the media plan. The social media process examined via the Mesocyclone is inherently unpredictable because social media professionals cannot control the response and participation of the news media and public, both of which may provide counter-narratives (citation withheld). The Mesocyclone is not definitively affiliated with a particular theory. Instead, the Mesocyclone is a model of how social media communication occurs, and enables the researcher to examine points within the process for data analysis. The Mesocyclone provides direction in looking at the subject from three positions, known as Magnitude, Vertical Depth, and Duration. Different theories can be applied—although not a requisite—to further explain the social media communication. These different theories can explain the process from different interpretive positions. Nature’s Mesocyclone is an actual event in some weather storms, and is comprised of the factors of Magnitude, Vertical Depth, and Duration visible in a Doppler radar. For more information, see http://w1.weather.gov/glossary/index.php?word=mesocyclone; http://www.xweather.org/mesocyclone Within a relevant storm, the Mesocyclone is the area where conditions can exist and potentially enable a tornado. Similar to the natural Mesocyclone, the social media Mesocyclone has factors of size and scale, an extension upward, and continuous activity represented by the terms Magnitude, Vertical Depth, and Duration (citation withheld). The social media Mesocyclone, therefore, is a product of a social-ecological philosophy that human behavior and the natural environment behave in some form of association. This can be described as a “deep ecological” interconnectedness and interdependence that encourages further, deeper questioning (Capra, 1996, p. 7). The Magnitude of a Mesocyclone, which is the force that generates a cyclone, is translated into the “highly focused, motivated, and intentional effort to get attention through pseudo-events.” But this focus on pseudo-events is unnecessarily limited, because it can be applied more broadly to social media communication and media-concerned events. While traditional communication theories have often dealt with “static,” the Mesocyclone describes the significant obstacle to communication as “clutter.” Rather than saying I’m having trouble hearing you, the emphasis becomes that I am having trouble hearing you. Social media professionals endeavor to break through the clutter in order to “magnify a message.” Media planners want to mobilize a communications buzz to create awareness and arouse interest. Researchers can utilize different data sources, such as the number of promotional tweets, PR tactics, and search engine optimization information (citation withheld). Nature’s Mesocyclone has a Vertical Depth that results from the reorientation of the tunnel-shaped, turning wind from a horizontal position to a vertical position, which itself is the product of an updraft. Without this vertical reorientation, a Mesocyclone does not exist. In social media’s Mesocyclone, Vertical Depth is the force to control media representations through the manipulation of time, production, and power (Citation withheld). Social media professionals are able to manipulate media time by the controlled release of information. These professionals can frustrate news media professionals, intentionally or not, by manipulating their sense of labor time. Within the Mesocyclone process, the Vertical Depth is when social media professionals can work with or against the practices and interests of the news media. This is when power is challenged and the perceived authority of the message’s meaning can be established. The manipulation of space and time creates a virtual space for participatory engagement by the public, and the catch-up by the traditional media. The interactions in this stage and the changes that result can be used as data. Lastly, Duration is the length—in time—of a cyclone. Natural Mesocyclones may last for hours, which can pale to the human-made Mesocyclones, e.g. the ALS ice bucket challenge. Duration is the product of the previous forces, which from the social media perspective is now centered on growing and expanding message distribution. The inherent risk is enabling the proliferation of counter-messages. Duration is associated with the potential to negatively flood people with messages. Like weeds, the initial messaging by the promoters may lead to counter-messages that can negate the original purpose(s) of the messages. Data can be collected by measuring competing hashtags—official, spontaneous, and counter-official—and traditional communications about the conflicts. The tactics of competitors can also be treated as data. Upon review, the Mesocyclone model of the social media process is useful for mixing quantitative data (e.g., number of tweets), qualitative data (e.g., observations of interaction, content of messages), and system data (e.g., the media plan’s tactics). The assumption is that event planners and social media planners face contemporary, universal challenges, and that their campaigns can be analyzed as quasi-case studies within the model. A statistical analysis of quantitative data is not conducted in this study because the results alone do not indicate success or failure. Quantitative data is only one piece of the puzzle in determining how the process unfolded. Because of the relatively small number of tweets and Facebook posts available for this study, the quantitative data suggests more than proves. However, suggestion rather than proof is indicative of the fluidity persistent in a liquid society such as this, as per Zygmunt Bauman’s (2005) concept of a liquid modernity that keeps moving and thus, references to the past for guides are less reliable because of constant shifts in society. Data sources and interpretation This methodology for the Mesocyclone can best be described as a process analysis, because it relies on different data sources to evaluate this particular social media process. The data sources are Facebook posts and Twitter posts, which show primary and third party social media participation. The differences between Facebook and Twitter were summarized by Eun Sook Kwon and Yongjun Sung (2011): Facebook consumers can interact with brands and other consumers as a collective but in a constrained context within bounded spaces or groups. Twitter consumers instead can interact individually with brands but often with little contact between pools of followers. Twitter followers may be more interested in what a brand wants to communicate rather than what fellow admirers of the brand have to say (p. 5). Firstly, a frequency quantitative count serves to show how often and when posts are made. Secondly, an interpretation describes the meaning or relevance of posts. What people say is as important as how often it is said. Thirdly, a macro view of the process explains the successes and failures of the social media campaign. The first and second parts are the pieces of the puzzle, and the third part is an examination of the finished puzzle. The social media quantitative data to be analyzed is the available social media data accessible from a review of the St Edmund for England campaign’s @TheSaintEdmund Twitter account, the St Edmund for England Facebook account, and the Greene King @greeneking Twitter account. These accounts reveal frequencies of postings and interactions, the social media schedule, and the content of postings. Also of importance is the social media participation of the media, because the media can get an issue on someone’s awareness radar. All social media data to be reviewed was built as a content analysis by a student assistant under the direction of the author. Because the Magnitude is a force trying to break the clutter, the St Edmund for England campaign needs to get attention by appealing to potential social media co-communicators. It can be difficult finding the “hook” that engages participants and the rest of the public. For example, Twitter reported about 140 million tweets were sent in February 2011 (Twitter, 2014). A little more than a year later, 10.6 billion tweets were sent in June 2012. The UK—larger than England, of course—ranks fourth in nations with Twitter accounts, and London ranks third in cities. Tweeting is a popular and easy way to engage the various audiences because participants appear to have more open settings than Facebook users, even when these are the same people. According to Holt (2013), there were 200 million active Twitter users producing an estimated 400-500—million tweets daily. Several examples from England serve to demonstrate how successful campaigns can be when utilizing Twitter. The @JubileeTribute Twitter account was used to brand the official charitable organization as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. The account holders were unsuccessful because, in part, the account only tweeted 24 times as of its last tweet in September 2012. Strikingly different was the Twitter run of more than one million tweets about the Diamond Jubilee events, which was larger by about a quarter-million tweets referencing the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton over an equal number of days. So while the official Diamond Jubilee tweeting was unsuccessful, the public and the media took over and publicized it. This methodology also uses interpretation, in order to explain the meanings of messages. People composed the social media postings, so postings reflect people’s values, beliefs, and intentions. What people say is of value for understanding the social media campaign. Social media discourse is often a fragmented conversation because of word or letter allowances and the lag between communications. As Nur Uysal and Aimei Yang (2013) stated, “The interactions between activists and organizations help to create or frame issues. As such, communication plays an instrumental role in helping activists achieve their goals” (p. 461). The integration of a different data form and application of a different and appropriate interpretive tool serves to validate—or invalidate—the interpretation resulting from the quantitative analysis. This form of “triangulation,” according to Don Faules (1982), means that, “Each method has particular weaknesses that can be compensated for by the other when they are used in combination” (p. 150). This second form of data collection and analysis can be especially helpful when there are relatively small numbers of social media postings. This triangulation is enhanced when interpreting the structure of the communication, or the big picture of the puzzle. “In this way, researchers have hoped to understand more fully the process of ‘structuring’ to determine how and why network patterns are enacted and maintained among organization members” (Albrecht & Ropp, 1982, p. 162). Christian Fuchs (2014), for example, used survey data as part of his critical argument on how to develop a public sphere involving social media. Results 1: Social Media Numerical Data As previously stated, the quantitative data is a simple frequency analysis of social media posts made by the campaign and an affiliated beer company. After reporting this data, the following section provides an analysis of the campaign based on this data but viewed through the Mesocyclone. The data is grist for the analysis, but the small population of social media posts means it is not at the level that statistical significance can be achieved. The frequency of social media activity was plotted in a bar chart (See Chart 1). Overall, the chart displays the small amount of activity in April and May 2013, then a significant increase in June 2013. This was followed by a consistent month-to-month decline after June through October 2013. There was another surge in November 2013, but not as grand as the June 2013 surge. A small amount of April 2014 activity was recorded by the coder, but it is not represented because it was truly small and five months after November. The @TheSaintEdmund Twitter account made its first post on May 28, 2013, and its last post on April 3, 2014. It tweeted 160 times and had 390 followers, as of October 24, 2014. Because of the vast number of Twitter accounts in 2013, the median of 1 follower per account and the median of 61 followers for all accounts active in the past 30 days are deceiving (Grandoni, 2013). @TheSaintEdmund had its best period of promotion through Twitter at its start, loosely marked as late May through early June of 2013. Based on retweets, its most popular tweets were retweeted 16, 12 and 12 times. At the time of this writing, other non-profit campaigns had significantly more followers. For example, the League Against Cruel Sports (@LeagueACS) has 26,200 followers and the Ramblers (@RamblersGB) walking charity has 17,100 followers. Even regional campaigns have more followers. For example, the Campaign to Protect Rural England Surrey (@CPRESurrey) has 1,315 followers and the Campaign to Protect Rural England Devon (@cpredevon) has 862 followers. The St Edmund for England Facebook account made 79 Facebook posts. The most popular posts based on “Likes” were four posts with more than 30 likes. The highest liked postings were made on November 22, 2013 (68), November 20, 2013 (53), November 20, 2013 (33), and June 18, 2013 (33). The average Facebook post was liked for a mean of 12.3 times; commented on for a mean of 2.8 times; and shared for a mean of 2.7 times. By far, the most shared post was the May 3, 2013, “Changed cover photo” with 53 shares—31 more than the second-most shared post and about 50 more shares than the campaign’s average Facebook post. Only 8 of the 79 posts had double-digit shares. Additionally, Greene King, England’s largest brewer and pub owner, was a major supporter of the campaign. In England, unlike the United States, some brewers own pubs across the country as a way to expand and stabilize their business. Greene Kings owns approximately 1,900 pubs, restaurants, and hotels, and it is a force in Suffolk because it was founded and still based in Bury St Edmunds (Greene King). Greene King’s @greeneking account tweeted 7 times directly about signing the e-petition, 4 times about their business being connected with St Edmund, and 3 times about other Edmunds in England. The most popular tweet based on retweets—14 of them—was on June 4, “It’s time to marshal the good men and women of England - join the campaign at http://www.edmundforengland.co.uk #edmundforengland.” Its second-most popular tweet—at 12—was on April 23, 2013, “Happy St George’s Day but…is it time to bring back our original English patron saint? We’ve been waiting 660 years. #EdmundforEngland.” The third most-popular tweet with 11 retweets, and the last tweet that was double-digit, was from June 11, 2013, “Over 1,000 people have signed our #edmundforengland e-petition. If you have signed, pls show your support with a RT! http://goo.gl/u5KxW.” Only 2 of the 14 tweets were favorited twice, and the rest were favorite once or no times. All double-digit retweets originated from tweets made on or before June 11, 2013. Results 2: Social Media Postings Interpretation Beyond frequencies, it is important to consider the creative content of the social media communications. Twitter and Facebook offer opportunities for visual and audio expression to enrich the user experience, as well to encourage retweeting and sharing. The St Edmund for England Twitter account posted three images. The first was a posed shot on June 4, 2013, which showed 10 individuals—eight men and two women—in front of a St Edmund statue holding a sign. This image exemplifies some of the obstacles the campaign faced. All the subjects in the image are white and at least seven of them appear middle-aged. There is a stark lack of diversity represented by gender, age, and race. Furthermore, none of the subjects are identified. Of course, this is difficult when limited to 140 characters. Ideally, however, these participants would have Twitter accounts and be identified by their own account names, so that their Twitter followers would see the image and be more likely to retweet it. Those with Twitter accounts should have been identified in the tweet. This tweet was retweeted 9 times. A June 14, 2013, photo shows a stained-glass window, and the tweet encourages people to figure out where it was located. This was a post with potential because of the involvement it encourages. However, the public is never given the answer to the question, and the tweet was retweeted only twice. The next tweet was four days later, and no answer was provided as to the photo’s location. The third, and last, image posted by the account was of a car with a campaign sign in the window. The tweet asked if anyone else was displaying one, and the tweet received one retweet. The campaign was not maximizing the potential of images to create connections. Results 3: Analysis of Campaign Using the Mesocyclone, the St Edmund for England campaign is analyzed to explain its challenges, strengths and possibilities. Magnitude The primary aspect of Magnitude is the effort to break through the clutter. St Edmund for England is facing the challenge that other campaigns face—getting attention. There is not an inherent need for St Edmund to replace St George, because the switch will not provide food, shelter, or change how people live their daily lives. The changing of a patron saint is not a fundamental resolution to a social ill, so the public has little need to engage in a concerted effort. The campaign faced two practical problems, the nationalizing of a local campaign and the concept of Englishness. In reference back to Chart 1 in the Appendix, the Magnitude stage existed during April and May 2013 as these months were used to create awareness. Based upon the activity of the participants—the campaign’s Twitter account, the campaign’s Facebook account, and the additional support of Greene King—June 2013 was the month of true Vertical Depth, and a transition away from awareness to external involvement. During the Magnitude stage the campaign’s Facebook activity was the most successful of the three. The number of “Likes” remained rather constant, and the number of Facebook “Share” activity by others was almost five times greater than the Likes by a count of 75 to 16, which is important because it demonstrates a greater involvement by other activists. Yet, the overall activity in April and May 2013 was too small to generate greater Vertical Depth. So, why? St Edmund for England argued the country is ready for a new patron saint because St George does not offer a significant relevance to England’s history and a sense of Englishness. The origins of Saint Edmund has been debated, but it is not debated that he was an English king. His Englishness is far superior to that of St George, who was not English and likely never visited England. St George is not frequently on the minds of the English, nor do most English readily know when St George’s Day occurs without looking at a calendar. According to one United Kingdom government press release, counties are an important aspect of its different member countries’ history and culture: The 39 counties of England have mostly existed largely unchanged since before 1066. They provide an instant means of reference to different parts of the country, to a set of cities, towns and villages; to distinctive scenery, architecture and wildlife; to particular industries and pastimes, accents and dialect, tourist attractions, weather and so on (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2014). While counties serve some form of self-identification or cultural history, the degree to which this is true varies county-to-county. According to one BBC article, people’s county affections are challenged by the government’s own various definitions—or purposes—of a county. There are “historic” counties dating back to the “mid-Saxon period,” whose residents may sense “geographic and cultural identity.” Counties also exist as “administrative counties and unitary authority areas,” envisioned as organized for governance. “Ceremonial” counties are more geographic in orientation. Because of this staggering discontinuity and the government’s past inclinations of changing the boundaries of counties, some families could have never moved from their homes and lived in different counties over time. Whereas Americans often have highly articulated feelings about their states and local communities, the English may not have similarly expressed feelings toward their counties. English counties do not have the same governing responsibilities and powers as American states, yet they appear to be more significant in force than the counties that exist in American states. As the BBC noted, “If you’ve followed that, well done” (Kelly, 2014). It was the campaign’s challenge to effectively disregard the notion of counties, even though the campaign’s success would specifically benefit the county of Suffolk. Given the aim to name a new national state, it was in the campaign’s interest to delocalize messages. Success depended on convincing those outside Suffolk of the importance of the change. This was a difficult task because the campaign needed a convincing theme of urgency or significance. Due to the lack of urgency—except for maybe a near-future return of the Labour Party, which previously rejected a proposal—this left the issue of significance. Vertical Depth Part of Magnitude is getting attention so that the media and other entities buy into the concepts, and then together they create Vertical Depth. The campaign had difficulty generating the necessary buzz in the Magnitude stage because of the problems previously identified, especially its relative shortage of followers. This statement is evidentiary based on an analysis of tweets. St Edmund for England ran the Twitter portion of its campaign between May 28, 2013, and April 3, 2014, but it was dormant from December 2013 through March 2014. Its strongest period of promotion through Twitter was at its start, loosely defined as late May through early June of 2013, when @TheSaintEdmund account tweeted regularly and received retweets and replies to a greater degree than other two-week periods. During this time an initial buzz was created but the buzz didn’t carry over to later time periods and external media. As stated in the previous subsection, the Magnitude stage was April and May 2013, and June 2013 was the month of Vertical Depth engagement. The goal in the vertical Depth stage is to engage other entities to the point they contribute to the campaign. All together they pitch the message and recruit more supporters. Overall, June 2013 was the most successful month. The official campaign’s Facebook account received 358 likes to posts in June, which was noticeably larger than any other month and even greater than five of the seven other months combined (See Chart 1). In fact, no other St Edmund for England social media activity recorded was as successful as the campaigners’ Facebook activity in June, with 29 posts leading to the stated 358 likes, 88 Comments, and 45 shares. June was especially strong for the campaigners’ Twitter account and Greene King’s supportive activity. The campaign’s Twitter account made 24 tweets, had 219 retweets, and 12 Favorites. Greene King’s 6 Tweets about the campaign resulted in 32 retweets, and 1 Favorite. The single most popular tweet, based on retweets in this period, was, “My e-petition is trending on the e-petition site. Let's keep signing and keep it trending! http://goo.gl/u5KxW #edmundforengland.” This tweet received 16 retweets. While this number was significant in the course of @TheSaintEdmund tweeting, it is a relatively small number. This was followed by two tweets with 12 retweets, “150 supporters have signed the St Edmund for England e-petition! Have you? http://goo.gl/u5KxW #edmundforengland” and “Hurrah! It's my day, #StEdmundsDay Have you signed my e-petition to re-instate me as patron saint? http://goo.gl/u5KxW #EdmundForEngland.” It appears that the campaign’s success in achieving retweets did not reach a critical mass. An important aspect of the Mesocylone model is getting buy-in from the media and public. The small number of Twitter followers suggests minimal buy-in, likely because there were few opportunities to engage in active participation. If it is true that only 6% of tweets are retweeted (Sysomos, 2010), a small number of followers is problematic. Unlike the previously stated non-profit efforts to protect rural England, it is more difficult to identify the benefits derived from a switch. Individuals can ramble through rural England and enjoy the view and air, but the benefits from changing saints are perceived benefits. A major obstacle to the generation of retweets was the lack of original, distinctive and engaging imagery. One study reported by Twitter found that the use of photographs in government and politics tweets increased the number of retweets by 62% (Rogers, 2014). An inclusion of the common hashtag only increases the retweeting by 30%. Tweets about government and politics are more likely to get retweeted when the message contains image links and hashtags, according to this study. While the campaign was consistent in its use of hashtags, the lack of visual variety likely hurt the campaign. Of course, there are no photographs of St Edmund, and there aren’t that many other visual representations of St Edmund, either. The lack of resonating symbolic imagery limited the imagination that encourages participation. Duration Duration involves elongating the time during which messages are circulated. In this stage, some oppositional parties elongate the time by challenging the message, which can overcome the force of the original message. Duration can be beneficial when the messages’ meanings are aligned with the original intent. Thus, messages that encouraged the signing of the e-petition and extending that encouragement to others was likely the goal of the campaigners. The public’s participation in the process did little to elongate the message. The campaign needed the e-petition to achieve a critical mass of signers in order to convince authorities to approve the change. The duration of a message (i.e., sign the e-petition) can be elongated by challenges given to friends on social media, making others aware of the issue and engaging in online conversation, and communicating a sense of virtual belonging. The available data does not suggest the campaign was successful in this aspect. July through October 2013 saw a consistent decline in across-the-board activity, followed by a November surge, and then a disappearance until April 2014. October 2013 was the only month during the Duration stage when Facebook Likes were exceeded by another category, but this was only a 14-13 victory for the campaign’s 14 Twitter retweets over the campaign’s 13 Facebook likes. July through October 2013 was a period of decline, and two of those months—September and October 2013—had no category exceed a count of 50. Quite evidently, the campaign lost the significant momentum established in June 2013, and the necessary involvement to sustain Duration was not achieved. A successful Duration may have moments of rising and falling numbers, but they should be fairly consistent. A hypothetical target for success would be having all months of the Duration positioned above the Vertical Depth’s midpoint of each category’s bar, or between 50% and 100% of the number for each category in the Vertical Depth. In this scenario, a majority of categories falling below 50% would be a likely indicator of failure during the Duration stage. The higher the mean of categories during the Duration and the consistency of social media activity would be a likely indicator of success. This does not, however, address one other significant consideration, which is the critical mass needed for any campaign to succeed. For example, the 245 Facebook likes the campaign received in November 2013 may appear impressive, but was it enough to make a true impact? Based on the result of a failed campaign, i.e., the patron saint was not changed, consistency and scoring above the midpoint are not enough to predict success because this does not take into account the very low amount of social media activity by a variety of participants. This suggests further research is needed into many successful and unsuccessful campaigns to identify critical mass figures as targets. Discussion It was vital for St Edmund for England to promote the Englishness of St Edmund without projecting associations with any particular political party or movement. The campaign would meet opposition if it unintentionally appeared to be supporting isolationist or xenophobic views. Yet, the campaign benefits from emphasizing St Edmund’s Englishness. So how does St Edmund for England promote him as the true English patron saint without framing England as exclusively accepting Christianity, especially because St Edmund and St George share the reputation as martyrs? Upon the benefit of reflection, the campaign could have benefitted from promoting the principles of loyalty and bravery that highlight teamwork. While selflessness is an important aspect of the King Edmund-to-St Edmund story, it could be treated by some in the public as being too liberal of an idea. Teamwork would likely be thought of as too liberal by only the more extreme individualistic perspectives, as it is typically a positive attribute. King Edmund had accepted his fate not just because of the religious issues, but because he sacrificed himself within his responsibility as the team leader. Teamwork is a concept that should resonate with the English and is readily evident in English sport, thus providing a tangible social value that can easily translate to an appreciation of Edmund. Unfortunately, several problems arise from such an association. England’s national football training site is St George’s Park, and St George’s flag is associated with English football. The use of St George’s flag has been complicated by its significance within right-wing, anti-immigrant campaign groups, including hooligans. In demonstrating the power of changing the meaning of a visual sign through its inclusion in hate messages, right-wing organizations have used the St George flag as its symbol of Englishness to the point that one survey showed 24% of English considered the flag to be racist (Copping, 2012). Some members of the public criticized mainstream English politicians for not taking the lead by championing a concept of an “inclusive patriotism.” Thus, the St Edmund for England campaign could have tapped into this inclusive patriotism in its own arguments that Edmund better represents England than George. A late 2014 poll showed support for the following political parties: Conservative 35%; Labour 33%; United Kingdom Independence Party 13%; Liberal Democrats 8% (Press Association, 2014). The previously stated lack of imagery to use in Twitter posts likely hurt the campaign. Instead of relying on the few representations available and some pub shots, the campaign could have created new images that would have resonated with the public. Illustrations could have been created in a contemporary style that placed St Edmund in tangible scenarios that were also humorous and uplifting, but not scenarios that would offend the public. Images could have been made in a parody setting, such as an illustration of St Edmund emerging from the Doctor’s TARDIS for Dr. Who fans. An image such as this would associate St Edmund with a popular character and promote the idea of his return by emerging from the TARDIS. As parody, the campaign would not have to license the TARDIS’ representation. To create broader appeal, St Edmund could have been placed in different popular tourist spots throughout the regions, not just Suffolk. In this approach, St Edmund becomes associated with areas beyond Suffolk to generate familiarity and likeability. Contests could have been held in each region to encourage participation and increase publicity. Another approach could have been to hold surprise events, which people would learn about through social media. According to Twitter, 78% of its users log in from mobile devices (Twitter Government and Elections Team, 2014, p. 10). The campaign could have used that mobility to generate participation, such as meet-ups, contests, and signing parties. However, the campaign’s engagement posts tended to direct people to sign the e-petition, so past signers would be disinclined to retweet or repost messages. Conclusion While many of the research studies pertaining to the Internet and social media have dealt with people as consumers, some studies have addressed the radicalization of individuals. Although this study has not dealt with radicalization, relevant research is useful for the Mesoycyclone. Edwards and Gribbon (2013) have called for more research on the experience of online recruitment and communication than the previous focus on content of online communication (p. 47). This raises an important reminder—people interact with other people in significant ways. Creating a nurturing online experience doesn’t have to be a dysfunctional activity, as in the case of radicalization. A positive experience can be created for socially functional activity, so that participants can feel they are involved in doing good when they actually are being pro-social. The return of St Edmund as national patron saint was a desire more than a need, which was the fundamental downfall of the campaign. The Mesocyclone was used to dissect the social media campaign, and it was argued that the important agents of participation—the media and the public—likely lacked a perceived necessitation to be sufficiently active in the stages of the Mesocyclone for it to generate the campaign’s goal. This suggests the campaigners would benefit from surveying members of the media and the public if a third campaign is considered. The St Edmund campaign is a reminder that engagement is a tricky business, and that campaigners and other stakeholders have an inherent investment that potential participants either don’t have, more aren’t aware of the potential benefits from participation. This has been the second application of the Mesocyclone social media model. For it to evolve, researchers can look at larger pools of data and subjects in different countries. The Mesocyclone was designed to look at moments within the communication process—the generation of interest, the engagement of others and their participation in communication, and attempted continuation of communication over time. Further research can suggest or micro-moments that exist as part of each moment and can further elaborate on the process.  References Albrecht, T.L. & Ropp, V.A. (1982). The study of network structuring in organizations through the use of method triangulation. The Western Journal of Speech Communication 46(Spring), 162-178. Bauman, Z. (2005). Liquid life. Cambridge, UK: Polity. British Broadcasting Company (Date Unknown). St George. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/saints/george_1.shtml British Broadcasting Company (2006, September 26). Campaign for a new patron saint. Retrieved January 29, 2015, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/suffolk/5381956.stm British Broadcasting Company (2007, April 23). 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Public Relations Review 39(5), 459-469. Woodger, A. & Haugh, R. (2013, June 4). St Edmund takes on St George for England’s patron saint honour. British Broadcasting Company. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-22649102  Appendix Chart 1 This chart displays the social media activity by the Saint Edmund campaign on Facebook, the campaign on Twitter, and the Greene King Twitter account specifically about the Saint Edmund campaign. 28