Title
Sifting signal from noise: A new perspective on the meaning of tweets about the "big game".
Abstract
A good deal of Twitter research focuses on event-detection using algorithms that rely on keywords and tweet density. We present an alternative analysis of tweets, filtering by hashtags related to the 2012 Superbowl and validated against the 2013 baseball World Series. We analyze low-volume, topically similar tweets which reference specific plays (sub-contexts) within the game at the time they occur. These communications are not explicitly linked; they pivot on keywords and do not correlate with spikes in tweets-per-minute. Such phenomena are not readily identified by current event-detection algorithms, which rely on volume to drive the analytic engine. We propose to demonstrate the effectiveness of empirically and theoretically informed approaches and use qualitative analysis and theory to inform the design of future event-detection algorithms. Specifically, we propose theories of Information Grounds and third places to explain sub-contexts that emerge. Conceptualizing sub-contexts as a socio-technical place advances the framing of Twitter event-detection from principally computational to deeply contextual.
Year
DOI
Venue
2016
10.1177/1461444814541783
NEW MEDIA & SOCIETY
Keywords
Field
DocType
Event-detection,hashtags,information grounds,third places,Twitter
Social science,Computer science,Filter (signal processing)
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
18.0
2
1461-4448
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
2
0.37
13
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Ian Graves1644.31
Nora McDonald2437.57
Sean P. Goggins321623.98