Language of Politics on TwitterSummer School in AI

American University BeirutJune 16, 2015

Yelena Mejova@yelenammSocial Computing GroupQatar Computing Research Institute, HBKU

political

twitter

analysis

Buzz online equals money online. Money online equals money off-line. Money off-line equals GOTV [get out the vote],which equals votes.This is a very close-knit, tied-together thing.

Vincent HarrisRon Paul’s chief digital strategist

2015

You used to be able to just interact with your five or 10 talking heads who went and did the TV shows, and now you’ve got an infinite number of social-media content creators. And how do you herd the cats?

Vincent HarrisRon Paul’s chief digital strategist

2015

Elections

“the crowning of the Internet as the king of all political media”“the beginning of the Internet presidency”

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- on Obama's 2008 victory Mitch Wagner, InformationWeek

When counting only fundraising that was initially generated by digital efforts, including email, social media, mobile and the website, the [Obama] 2012 campaign raised $504 million, up from $403 million in 2008

Transparency

“Instantaneous tweeting of shady government practices -- and the resulting uproar -- means that public bodies are more responsive than ever”.

- Wesley Donehue, CNN

Mobilization

“This exercise of power has produced a template for political action on a massive scale fueled by social media.”

on PIPA and SOPA Vivek Wadhwa, Washington Post

Attention

Twitter is used to publicize protests that are already going on -- and bring the world's attention to the acts of violence committed by the regime.

There has, indeed, been a lot of criticism of the lack of Iran-related coverage on CNN; Twitter users have even organized an entire campaign to deal with this called #cnnfail. I think they have been successful: CNN executives/reporters eventually had to answer questions about it.

on Iranian electionEvgeny Morozov, June 17, 2009

blogger for Foreign Policy

Reframing

Public reframing versus mainstream media

19

Can Twitter Tell Us What We're Feeling?- Mashablehttp://mashable.com/2012/04/17/twitter-feeling/

What does the Twitterverse think of Warren Buffett’s secretary?- Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/mention-machine-what-does-the-twitterverse-think-of-

warren-buffetts-secretary/2011/09/30/gIQAnlWtAL_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

Twitter Indicator Could Trump Polls for 2012 Election Measurement- Mashablehttp://mashable.com/2012/01/03/washington-post-twitter-elections/

Don't Bet On Social Media Picking Super Tuesday Winners- ReadWriteWebhttp://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/dont_bet_on_social_media_picking_super_tuesday_win.php

Twitter Cannot Predict Elections Either- Technology Reviewhttp://www.technologyreview.com/view/427807/twitter-cannot-predict-elections-either/

Twitter, Politics Don't Mix: Social Media Sites Not A Popular Source For Political Info: Pew

- Huffington Posthttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/07/twitter-politics-campaign-news-pew_n_1260057.html

questions

what do people really think about issues/politicians?

who are the opinion leaders?how will people vote?

how does traditional media affect people’s political views?

what is traditional media missing/ignoring?how can media or politicians sway political

opinion?

next

twitter data:what is it? how to get it?

how to process it?

NOWIf you don’t have one, get a Twitter account

or sit by somebody who has one