Twitter seems to provide a ready source of data for researchers interested in public
opinion and popular communication. Indeed, tweets are routinely integrated into the
visual presentation of news and scholarly publishing in the form of summary statistics,
tables, and charts provided by commercial analytics software. Without a clear
description of how the underlying data were collected, stored, cleaned, and analyzed,
however, readers cannot assess their validity. To illustrate the critical importance of
evaluating the production of Twitter data, we offer a systematic comparison of two
common sources of tweets: the publicly accessible Streaming API and the “fire hose”
provided by Gnip PowerTrack. This study represents an important step toward higher
standards for the reporting of social media research.
Originally Published in the International Journal of Communication
Link to full article
No comments:
Post a Comment