But for the lessons such an exercise can teach about how such new-fangled tools can most effectively be pressed into service.

Plus for any clues regarding the candidates’ preoccupations, interests and character.

To be clear, I am talking about a) the heavyweight contest between Sebastian Coe and Sergey Bubka for the Presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and b) the four-way tussle for the leadership of FIFA, world governing body of football, the planet’s biggest sport.

Three general points to begin with:

1.  While I genuinely don’t think Twitter is a good way of assessing the likely winners of such contests, it would actually be little surprise if the finishing places in both elections corresponded with the number of followers that each candidate has.

For the record, at my cut-off point of noon on May 7, the situation was as follows: Coe 92,700 versus Bubka 5,750.

And Sepp Blatter 2.67 million, Luís Figo 1.14 million, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein 191,348 (split between two accounts) and Michael van Praag 14,700.

2.  One aspect of these global campaigns that Twitter makes very graphically apparent is how much travelling each candidate is doing, very often to the same events offering face-time with groups of voters.

Based on Twitter, the respective foreign itineraries of the two candidates for the IAAF job since January 1 have been as follows:

Coe - Brazil, Dubai, New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica, France, Ethiopia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago, China, Saudi Arabia, St Kitts, Slovenia, Bahrain, Australia;

Bubka - Israel, Qatar, Brazil, Monaco, Brazil, Ethiopia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, St Kitts, Slovenia, Austria, China, Mauritius, Bahamas, Australia.

I am pretty sure these impressive lists are not even comprehensive: neither man’s feed contains the slightest reference to last month’s momentous SportAccord Convention in Sochi where SportAccord President Marius Vizer detonated his oratorical depth-charge.  

3.  While you certainly notice different things about different feeds, the number of Tweets sent by all six candidates is remarkably similar, broadly between 100 and 200, including retweets and replies. 

When campaigning, a Tweet or two a day seems to be the well-balanced way.

I thought it might be informative to identify each candidate’s most retweeted, and most favourited, contributions; and indeed it was.

In the athletics race, this highlighted that for all the candidates’ worthy policy pronouncements and smiley pictures with sundry blazered officials, you need stardust to trigger interreaction.

The most favourited and retweeted item in Bubka’s timeline is a Tweet by Renaud Lavillenie, the Frenchman who finally broke the Ukrainian’s pole vault world record, celebrating a strong performance.

Incidentally, to judge by Bubka’s Tweets, the two men now enjoy seriously cordial relations.

The most-favourited item on Coe’s timeline, meanwhile, is a picture of him Tweeted by one Usain St Leo Bolt with the comment, “Good Company”.

The great middle-distance runner’s most retweeted contribution, with 191 retweets, must, one imagines be a matter of some celebration for Sport England.

It reads: “Pleased to see the number of people who run at least once a week has risen by 67%.”

Turning to football, the Tweets by both Figo and Van Praag that inspired most interreaction were directly related to the announcement of their candidacies or programmes.

Prince Ali’s most favourited Tweet, however, is a dignified expression of grief, in Arabic, at the death of Moaz al-Kasasbeh, the Jordanian pilot killed by Islamic State.

It was presumably to distance his duties and responsibilities as brother of Jordan’s ruler, King Abdullah II, from the FIFA campaign that Prince Ali set up a separate @AliForFIFA Twitter account.

This has only 1,352 followers, however, compared with 191,000 for his main account.

So much FIFA-related material, including his manifesto, continues to be carried by that more popular account.

Blatter, the current FIFA President who is seeking a fifth term, maintains that he is not campaigning.

His always active Twitter account has, accordingly, continued in much the same vein as before.

His most-favourited Tweet is one of many retweets from the FIFA Women’s World Cup account; this one celebrates the fact that all individual tickets for the final of that competition in Vancouver later this year were sold in the space of 24 hours.

His most retweeted contribution came nine days earlier: “I also condemn the actions of a small group of Chelsea fans in Paris. There is no place for racism in football!”

For brevity’s sake, here to conclude, are one or more highlights and lowlights relating to each of the six timelines under scrutiny.

Coe

Highlight: photograph with John Walker, the great New Zealand miler (February 4); I also love the fact that his first Tweet of the year (January 7) was on one of his great enthusiasms - jazz.

Lowlight: He has a habit of publishing photographs of himself being interviewed by the media for reasons I can’t really fathom. I am not sure our influence in the outcome is that great.

Bubka

Highlight: A photograph from a visit to Rio (February 23) of the now 51-year-old Bubka attempting a vault. There is a humorous side to the Ukrainian and he has more natural warmth of character than his rival. I wonder though whether his decision in 2013 to run against Thomas Bach for the IOC Presidency will end up costing him votes.

Lowlight: retweet of a Tweet by the Spanish Olympic Committee, acronym COE.

This may be a coincidence or even a misperception, but while Coe seems to have been making a bit of a thing about highlighting the importance of cross-country, Bubka appears to have been doing something similar with mass-participation road-running.

My impression is that Bubka’s timeline also includes more content relating to his sport’s sponsors and business partners.

Blatter

Highlight: While his gaffes over the years have been widely reported, the FIFA President does also have an ability to find “le mot juste”, in various languages. On opening the Caribbean Football Union Congress (April  15), he observes, “There are no small associations”. On addressing the African Football Confederation (CAF), he notes: “Above all stressed what Africa has given to global football”.

Lowlight: Team photo (January 30) with the United Arab Emirates squad who came third in the Asian Cup.

Luís Figo

Highlight: Excellent snapshot at CAF Congress with Isha Johansen of Sierra Leone (April 6). Also retweet of a link to an article prefaced by the comment, “Unlike #Blatter, no speaking time for @michaelvanpraag, @LuisFigo & @AliBinAlHussein at the AFC Congress”.

Lowlight: This rather out-of-the-blue comment (in three languages): “Those who question @Cristiano’s passion for Real @realmadrid and his professionalism, completely ignore his history and his character.” I may be cynical and I would certainly not argue the substance of Figo's point, but I would not be surprised if the said @Cristiano came out in support of his old Portuguese team-mate at some point.

Prince Ali

Highlight: Photographs with the Pope (April 23); a worldwide Muslim/Catholic alliance would take some stopping in the context of FIFA, even for a rival with Blatter’s political dexterity. Also, interview (March 17) with star journalist, Christiane Amanpour.

Lowlight: This comment Tweeted on the day (April 6) he launched his manifesto. “It is clear to me that FIFA currently rides rather than drives the success of the beautiful game of football.” The vocabulary seems to sit more easily with the equestrian world over which his sister, Princess Haya, until recently presided.

Michael van Praag

Highlight: Great old photograph (March 12) from Ajax days with Louis van Gaal. Also, an unintentionally inspired misprint: “The UEFA Congress is bound to begin.”

Lowlight: “Lennart Johansson gave me one advice: ‘Do it your way!’” In his day, Johansson was a great sports administrator. However, when he ran against Blatter for the FIFA Presidency in 1998, he lost.