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Research using twitter

Research using twitter

Combined research presentations detailing my work with twitter

Ed de Quincey

June 11, 2013
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  1. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research #swine

    u: Twitter predicts swine u outbreak in 2009 Dr Ed de Quincey, Dr Patty Kostkova and Dr Martin Szomsor
  2. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research Patty

    Kostkova, Martin Szomszor, Sue Wiseman, Gawesh Jawaheer
  3. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research “Epidemics

    of seasonal influenza are a major public health concern, causing tens of millions of respiratory illnesses and 250,000 to 500,000 deaths worldwide each year” Ginsberg et al., Nature Vol 457, 19 February 2009 doi:10.1038/nature07634
  4. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research 15

    million unique users per month 50 million tweets per day 2010
  5. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research >

    200 million registered accounts 140 million tweets per day 2011
  6. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research From

    almost 3 million tweets collected during May to December 2009
  7. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research Collocation

    of words, one word to the right and the left of the word “ u”
  8. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research Word

    Frequency Word Frequency flu 2,384,459 #swineflu 96,940 swine 1,691,154 people 93,217 h1n1 212,975 cases 89,081 vaccine 164,804 sick 76.239 health 108,715 news 68,368 shot 105,941 :( 62,362 Most popular words found in all tweets
  9. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research 1

    Word to Left 1 Word to Right Word Frequency Word Frequency swine 1,193,777 vaccine 123,156 the 159,064 shot 88,361 h1n1 77,968 cases 46,098 seasonal 25,150 shots 43,676 bird 13,097 death 26,665 stomach 8,425 deaths 21,893 regular 8,119 pandemic 18,527 pig 6,650 season 17,521 man 7,630 vaccines 17.277 pandemic 6,626 virus 17,245 Collocation of words, one word to the right and the left of the word “ u”
  10. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research The

    use of twitter by students and lecturers: the potential impact on feedback and engagement. Dr Ed de Quincey and Avril Hocking
  11. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research Dr

    Ed de Quincey @eddequincey @DrEddeQuincey Senior Lecturer, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences Head of the Web 2.0/Social Web for Learning Research Group, eCentre http://www2.gre.ac.uk/research/centres/ecentre/research-groups/web-2.0 Avril Hocking @AvrilHocking Senior Lecturer, School of Health and Social Care Member of the Web 2.0/Social Web for Learning Research Group, eCentre
  12. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research Using

    twitter with this course We are intending to use twitter with this course in 3 ways: 1.  As an alternative method for posting useful course specific information to students e.g. links to articles, emergency changes to lecture times etc. 2.  Enable students to ask questions about courses e.g. clarifying something from a lecture, asking about coursework specifications etc. 3.  Encourage students to help one another and create communities of practice/learning.
  13. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research you

    could also use hashtags such as #COMP1314Lec1 if you are asking about something in the first lecture, #COMP1314Lab1 for the first lab session, #COMP1314CW for information about the coursework and so on. Just make sure that the hashtag includes #COMP1314
  14. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research Twitter

    was introduced during the first tutorial session for 3 courses at UG and PG level, across 2 Schools within the University by 2 lecturers (@DrEddeQuincey and @AvrilHocking).
  15. The use of twitter by students and lecturers Tweets collected

    1.  All tweets posted from lecturer accounts 2.  All tweets that contained the relevant course codes 3.  All direct messages and replies (for @DrEddeQuincey and @AvrilHocking)
  16. The use of twitter by students and lecturers created in

    April 2011 solely for student/University related tweets, currently has 130 followers
  17. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research a

    rough estimate is that 80 (62%) are present or past students within the University
  18. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research 289

    tweets have been sent from the lecturer account between September 2011 and April 2012
  19. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research !

    frequency of terms used within those 289 tweets
  20. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research 161

    tweets (56%) were @mentions i.e. the lecturer replying to a student’s tweet indicating a good level of 2 way- communication
  21. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research received

    40 direct (private) messages from 11 students, all asking questions, again indicating a good level of 2-way communication
  22. The use of twitter by students and lecturers The hashtags

    for the 2 courses had less impact than the use of messaging, with #COMP1444 being used 98 times (50% by the lecturer account) and #COMP1314, 75 times (33% by the lecturer account).
  23. The use of twitter by students and lecturers Around 31%

    students used twitter as a way of communicating with @DrEddeQuincey regarding the course and although a few individuals made attempts at sharing information by the use of hashtags, this was not the primary use
  24. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research Students

    were willing to sign up for twitter and the majority sent at least one tweet, but their continued use was very much dependent on whether they were already active users or whether they understood it’s potential uses during and after the course
  25. The use of twitter by students and lecturers “This was

    very stressfull............. but successfull.. #nurs1301”
  26. The use of twitter by students and lecturers A number

    of students have utilised twitter as a quick method of communication between themselves and the lecturer. This enabled for almost real time communication outside of lectures and tutorials and immediate resolution of issues
  27. The use of twitter by students and lecturers students have

    to ask concise questions that can be answered within the same limitation. From the lecturer point of view, replies can be quick and to the point, no need for email etiquette and format e.g. salutations and sign-offs.
  28. The use of twitter by students and lecturers For lecturers

    that utilise twitter on a continuous basis as a natural part of their work, the ability to monitor and send quick replies to students via a range of devices is more efficient and does not get lost amongst other work related email.
  29. The use of twitter by students and lecturers other students

    who follow the user who sent the @mention can also see the @reply from the lecturer, potentially reducing the number of communications that ask the same question.
  30. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering - Twitter Research The

    hashtag course codes were primarily only used by the lecturer and were sparsely used in all courses to share information, discuss course content etc. by students.
  31. COMP1678 – User Centred Web Engineering Twitter Research Tweeting Credibility

    and Thankfulness: An Exploratory Study of Charity Twitter Accounts in the UK Dr Ed de Quincey and Dr Nicky Garsten
  32. 1.  Profile information The accounts’ start dates, and total number

    of tweets and followers were ascertained, along with a number of other attributes. 2. Tweet activity Tweets over a one-week period (1st November to 7th November 2011) were collected and the contents analysed to identify common words used, retweets, links, hashtags and emoticons.
  33. The average number of tweets per charity was 2,634 (range

    of 12,887 to 46) and the average number of followers was 19,201 (range of 466,824 to 198).
  34. strong, +ve correlation was found (rho 0.77) between the number

    of tweets posted and the number of followers that account has
  35. Authorship   Percentage  of   accounts   No.  of  accounts

        No  name  of   individual  or  team   specified   84%   53   Func&onal  team   name  (e.g.  PR  or   digital  team)   13%   8   Chris&an  name/s   10%   6   Full  name   2%   1  
  36. “thanks” and “thank” were used 459 times (20% of all

    tweets) “thanks” and “thank” used in 37% of @replies
  37. “thanks” and “for” were present in 291 tweets Thanking for

    … Number of tweets Retweet (“RT”) 126 “support” 63 Follow Friday (“#FF”) 50 “sharing” 18
  38. What Are Hashtags ("#" Symbols)? Definition: The # symbol, called

    a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet #eupreraspring12
  39. An emoticon (/ɨˈmoʊtɨkɒn/) is a pictorial representation of a facial

    expression using punctuation marks and letters, usually written to express a person's mood. >:] :-) :) :o) :] :3 :c) :> =] 8) =) :} :^) ""