The G20 is just over and they have boosted Gordon Brown's Share-of-Influence in the debate on the economy. (Share-of-Influence is similar to share-of-mentions, but with each mention adjusted for the topical influence of the voice who makes the reference)
However, as the graph below shows, Gordon Brown's position in the debate was already strong before the G20.
The graph below shows how a number of UK political figures performed in the global, English Language debate on the economy.
However, if we extend the set to include other leaders we see that US President Obama is by far the most important player in the debate.
In the first few days of April, Gordon Brown became visible on the international stage and for the first time in 4 months he had a greater Share-of-Influence in the debate than US Fed Chariman Ben Bernanke.
Interesting to see that French President Sarkozy also made a name for himself in the month of April on the topic of the economy.
Turning our attention to the UK debate, we can see from the graph below, that Gordon Brown still holds the bulk of the influence in the debate.
The graph below is similar to the first graph but it only analyse debate from UK websites.
Looking at how the long list of leaders perform in the UK debate (graph below) we see that even in the UK debate, President Obama is normally the most important figure. Except for the month of April his influence is normally greater than all the other figures combined.
So far in the month of April, Gordon Brown has had a greater Share-of-Influence than President Obama. It will be interesting to see if it lasts.