Conducting Research on Twitter-Based Communication Phenomena: Why Not?
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Transcript of Conducting Research on Twitter-Based Communication Phenomena: Why Not?
Presentation Outline
1. Why study social media?
2. The rise of a new research model;
3. Collecting and archiving the data;
4. Analyzing the data;
5. Making sense of the data;
6. Conclusion.
Why study social media?
Sources: Pew Research Center
Why study social media?
Sources: Pew Research Center
Why study social media?
Sources: Raynauld,2013; Khang, Ki et al. 2012; Kietzmann, Silvestre et al. 2012; Raynauld and Greenberg under eveluation
• Traditional media vs. Conventional media;• Impact of social media on individuals and society as a
whole:• Production, categorization, and mass circulation
of content;• Acquisition of information;• Structure of social interactions;• Community-building;• Self-presentation;• Etc.
Why study social media?
Source: Raynauld and Greenberg, under evaluation.
• Twitter as a research object:• Low-cost micro-blogging service:
• Time;• Technical resources and skills;• Financial resources;
• Posts of up to 140 characters;• Wide-ranging content;• Internal community-building
functions;• Few ethical considerations
(public data);• Flexibility for researchers.
Why study social media?
Ethical consideration
s
• Twitter as a research tool :• Active participant approach to research:
• Decentralized circulation of surveys and other questionnaires (snowball sampling):
The rise of a new research model
• A new way to do business:• Proactive vs. Reactive research:
• Constant monitoring of the social mediascape;
• Identifying research opportunities (e.g. “What’s trending,” events, etc.);
• Adaptivity and creativity.• Rapidly-evolving nature of social media research:
• Constant rise of new social media channels;• Social media in “perpetual beta”?• Evolution of data collection and analytical
tools;• Importance for researchers to remain
flexible.
Are higher education institutions ready?
Collecting and archiving the data
Sources: Raynauld, Giasson et al. 2011; Raynauld 2013; Raynauld, Lalancette et al. 2014
• Small data vs. Big data;• The importance of sampling:
• Hashtags;• Twitter accounts;• Etc.
• Type of data collected:• Name, picture, and other information
relating to tweeters;• Time and date of publication of tweets;• Content of tweets;• Social interactive functions:
• @replies;• Retweets.
• Etc.
Factors influencing the sampling:• Research question;• Objectives;• Access to resources;• Capabilities of archiving platform.
Collecting and archiving the data
Sources: Raynauld, Giasson et al. 2011; Raynauld, Lalancette et al. 2014 – Special thanks to Valérie Bélair-Gagnon.
• Data collection and archiving tools:• In-house options:
• Resource-intensive;• Less flexibility;• Challenges linked to the “perpetual
beta” nature of social media (e.g. API);• Require a programmer on staff.
• Open-source alternatives:• ScraperWiki;• Tweet Archivist;• SnapBird;• Twitonomy;• Etc.
Collecting and archiving the data
• Screenshot of ScraperWiki:
Analyzing the data
Sources: Raynauld, Giasson et al. 2011; Raynauld, Lalancette et al. 2014
• Conventional approaches:• Quantitative content analysis (mostly
descriptive):• Number of tweets;• Content of posts;• Etc.
• Qualitative content analysis:• Function of tweets;• Function of the content of tweets:
• Photos;• Videos;• Hyperlinks;• Geographic
locations.• Etc.
Little qualitative work on Twitter-
based communication
phenomena so far.
Analyzing the data
Sources: Raynauld 2013; Turcotte and Raynauld 2014
• Innovative approaches:• Network analysis (@replies):
Number of @replies
877
Number of nodes
654
Number of edges
648
Average degree
0.991
December 14, 2009 to
December 20, 2009
Node
Edge
Analyzing the data
• Innovative approaches:• Sentiment analysis:
Source: Raynauld and Greenberg under evaluation
Making sense of the data
• Factors influencing this process:• Research questions;• Research objectives;• Type of analysis;• Etc.
• Importance of interdisciplinary research• The decline of “silo” approaches to research;• The rise of new research models:
• Flexibility;• Collaboration across disciplines;• Teamwork.
Conclusion
• Challenges to social media research:• Investigative approaches tailored for the
study of traditional mass media need to be revisited;
• “Big data”;• Etc.
• New research model challenging traditional methods;• Teamwork;• Pooling of expertise;• Avoid “research in silo.”
• Many opportunities:• New research questions;• New methodologies;• Flexibility;• Etc.Sources: Raynauld and Greenberg under evaluationl Raynauld, Lalancette et al. 2014
Conclusion
• Potential social media-related research in public relations and other fields relating to communication studies:
• Crisis management;• Branding;• Political communication;• Advocacy;• Social marketing;• Etc.
Sources: Raynauld and Greenberg under evaluationl Raynauld, Lalancette et al. 2014
Any ideas?
Conclusion
• What am I thinking about?• Hyperlocal journalism;• Transformation of political campaigning:
• Hyperlocal information dispersion and organizing;
• New form of polling based on geolocation;• Concerns;• Opinions;• Etc.
• Redefinition of the relationship between elected officials and constituents;
• Etc.
Sources: Raynauld and Greenberg under evaluationl Raynauld, Lalancette et al. 2014
QUESTIONS
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