UsingSocialMediaDatainResearch

WebDataRA fromWSI

ProfLeslieCarr

WebDataResearchAssistant

• ScrapesTwitter,FacebookandGoogledataintoaspreadsheet

• Uniquelyallowsfreehistoricdatacapture

• Noprogrammingrequired

• Browserextension,one-clickinstall

AvailablefromtheChromeWebStoreatbit.ly/WebDataRA

OverviewofUse

• TheWebDataRAwillcaptureTwitter,FacebookandGoogledatafromabrowserandallowyoutopasteatableofinformationdirectlyintoaspreadsheet.ThistutorialfocusesonitsusewithTwitter.

1. Visitbit.ly/WebDataRA inChrome,clickontheblue“+AddtoChrome”button.Thesmallgreeniconwillappearinthetoprightofthebrowserwindow,nexttotheURLbar.

2. Gototwitter.com andcreateaTwittersearchordisplayatimeline

3. ClickontheWebDataRA icontostartcollectingtweets.• Every5secsthebrowserwillautomaticallyscrolltothebottomofthepagetomakeTwitterloadthenext

batchofresultsandaddtheupdatestotheclipboard.

4. Whenyouhavecollectedenoughresults,pastethedataintoanExcelspreadsheet.

5. UseExceltoanalysedata,orexporttootherprogramssuchasGephi orVoyant forotherkindsofanalysis.

WebDataRA Tables

Thetweetdata,withauthor,mentions,hashtags,textandcountsofretweets,repliesandlikesbrokenoutinseparatecolumns.

Accountoccurrencesummary,acountofthenumberoftimesthateachTwitteraccountappearsinthedatasetasauthororamention(includingretweets).

Countsoftheappearancesofeachhashtag.

Atableofedgesoftheconversationalnetwork,i.e.thenumberoftimeseachpairofaccountscommunicatewitheachother.

UsingTheTweetDataTable

• Thetweetdata(gray)containsthebasicdataabouteachtweet:whatwassaid,when,bywhoandtowhom.• Usethisdatatoformageneraloverviewofthecommunicationovertimeandidentifythemostsignificanttweets.• ExaminespecifictweetsandtheircontextbyreferringbacktotheTwittersiteusingeachtweet’sURL.

PivotTableVisualTwitterTimeline

• Clickonanygray cellintheTweetDatatable• Choose“PivotTable”fromtheInsertribbon.• InthePivotTablebuilder

• drag“Author”fromtheFieldNamepanelintothe“Rows”panel

• drag“Timestamp”intothe“Columns”panel• drag“Author”(again)intothe“Values”panel(itwillautomaticallyturninto“CountofAuthor”).

• ReformattocreateahelpfulTimelinesummaryofcontributors(verticalaxis)bydays(horizontalaxis).• narrowthecolumns,slantthecolumnheadings,changetheangleofthetextto60°• usethe“RowLabels”controltosortbytheauthorcount• showonlytherowswherethetotalauthorcountisgreaterthanachosenthreshold.• useconditionalformattingtohighlightthemostextremevalues.

OtherQuestionstoaskoftheData

• AllkindsofsummariesandanalysesarepossibleusingExcelonthisdata,including:• Showingthedistributionofthetweetsamplethroughtime• Identifyingthemostprolificand/orpopularactors,andshowingtheiractivitythroughtime• Showingtheuseofindividualhashtags(thismightbeusefulinabigconversation,oronethatevolvesoveralongerperiod)• Comparingtherelativeproportionofcontributionsfromdifferentactors/hashtags

UsingTheAccountDataTable

• Theaccounttable(green)shows• themostactivetweeters,• themostfrequentrepliers,• themostretweetedusers.

• Thisshowsthekeyactorsinaconversation,andthemainrolesthattheytake.• Getdetailedinformationbyclickingontheaccountnames(linked)toseetheaccountbiosandtherelevanttimelinesoftheseactorsintheTwitterwebsite.• Understandwhethertheyarecorporateaccounts,privateindividuals,botsortrolls.

InspectingTwitterAccountsAccount # Bio

ItsTimeToLogOff 30 TimeToLogOffisthehomeof digitaldetox.We’respearheadingthemovementtodisconnectregularlyfromdigitaldevicesandreconnectwiththeworldoffline.Wedothisthroughcollecting factsontheneedfordigitaldetox,running campaigns togeteveryoneofftheirscreensandhosting retreats,eventsand workshops.

DinnerTableMBA 9 Acommercialorganisationworkingtogethertohelpfamiliesbecomemoreconfident,successful,andself-empowered

SpareFoot 8 Astoragecompany.Wemakeiteasytomoveandstoreyourstuff.Reservestorageforfreeandgetyourmindoutoftheclutter.

CultureEffect 5 AuthorofDigitox:HowtoFindaHealthyBalanceforyourFamily’sDigitalDiet

Theaccountnamesintheaccount“authorandmentions”(green)tableareclickable,andopenthepageoftheaccountprofileinyourdefaultwebbrowser.

Followingtheaccounthyperlinksforthemostprolificauthorsinthegreentable,weseethattheyareallcommercialorinstitutionalactorstooneextentoranother.

UsingTheHashtagDataTable

• Thehashtagtable(blue)showsyouthemostfrequentlyusedhashtags.Thiscanhelpyouextendyourdatagatheringtolookformoretweetsrelevanttoyourresearchquestion.

UsingTheEdgeDataTable

• Theedgetable(yellow)willhelpyoutoseetheinteractionsbetweenactors,andhelpyoutounderstandgroupingsofactors,andthepatternoftheirinteraction.• Isakeyaccountdominatingaconversationandtalkingtomanyothers?• Aretheyrespondingorjustbeingpassiverecipientsofmarketingmessages?• Isthereagroupofequalshavingabalancedconversationwithequalparticipation?

InspectingtheConversationNetwork

• CopyandpastetheyellowtableintoaseparatespreadsheetandsaveitasaCSVfile(callitedgetable.csv orsimilar).• Loadupthenetworkvisualisationprogram“Gephi”,andstartanewproject.• Inthe“DataLaboratory”,choose“ImportSpreadsheet”andloaduptheCSVdataasanedgetable. Youcanthenapplyavarietyofnetwork

layoutalgorithmsinthe“Overview”pane.

UnderstandingtheConversationNetwork

• ManysummariesandanalysesarepossibleusingGephi’s networkvisualisations.• Showingtheinteractionofthenetworkactors• Identifyingthecommunitiesandactiveparticipantsubgroupswithinthelargersample• Identifyingtherolesofdifferentactorsinthecommunicationsnetwork

TextualAnalysesoftheSocialConversation

• Inthegray table,copythe“SanitisedText”column.• Thiscontainsthetextofallthetexts,butwithalltheTwitterfeatures(@names,#hashtags,URLs)removedtoleaveonlytheEnglishtext.

• GototheVoyant-Tools.org website• Voyant Toolsisatextualcorpusanalyser.ItconsidersaTwitterconversationasasingledocument&individualtweetsasindividualsentences.

• Pastethetextintothetextbox• Pressthe“Reveal”button.• Youwillseeascreenwithseveralpanelsthathelpyouexplorethetextofthetweetsindifferentways.

TextualAnalyses

• Voyant includesavarietyoftextualanalysiscomponents• Wordcloud• Trendanalyser• Concordance• Summary• Vocabularyclusteranalysis• DimensionalReductions• Co-occurrenceNetwork

SentimentAnalysis

• Pastethe“SanitisedText”columnintosentigem.com.• Considertowhatextenttheresultsseemaccuratetoyou?Howwelldoesitidentifypositiveandnegative‘sentiment’inatweet?• Whatkindsofinaccuraciescanyousee?

• Doesithelpyoutoidentifyanypointsofinterestinyourdataformorethoroughinvestigation?

• Sentimentanalysiscanhelpyouidentifypositiveornegativecommentsinyoursample.• Thisisapopularmethodinindustry,especiallywithbrandmanagementcompanies.Howeveritisacademicallycontested,anddoesnothaveahighdegreeoftransparencyinthelexicalprocessing.