Sentiment in Twitter events

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and TechnologyVolume 62, Issue 2 p. 406-418 Research Article Sentiment in Twitter events Mike Thelwall, Mike Thelwall m.thelwall@wlv.ac.uk Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB, UKSearch for more papers by this authorKevan Buckley, Kevan Buckley K.A.Buckley@wlv.ac.uk Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB, UKSearch for more papers by this authorGeorgios Paltoglou, Georgios Paltoglou G.Paltoglou@wlv.ac.uk Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB, UKSearch for more papers by this author Mike Thelwall, Mike Thelwall m.thelwall@wlv.ac.uk Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB, UKSearch for more papers by this authorKevan Buckley, Kevan Buckley K.A.Buckley@wlv.ac.uk Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB, UKSearch for more papers by this authorGeorgios Paltoglou, Georgios Paltoglou G.Paltoglou@wlv.ac.uk Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: 06 December 2010 https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21462Citations: 456Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract The microblogging site Twitter generates a constant stream of communication, some of which concerns events of general interest. An analysis of Twitter may, therefore, give insights into why particular events resonate with the population. This article reports a study of a month of English Twitter posts, assessing whether popular events are typically associated with increases in sentiment strength, as seems intuitively likely. Using the top 30 events, determined by a measure of relative increase in (general) term usage, the results give strong evidence that popular events are normally associated with increases in negative sentiment strength and some evidence that peaks of interest in events have stronger positive sentiment than the time before the peak. It seems that many positive events, such as the Oscars, are capable of generating increased negative sentiment in reaction to them. Nevertheless, the surprisingly small average change in sentiment associated with popular events (typically 1% and only 6% for Tiger Woods' confessions) is consistent with events affording posters opportunities to satisfy pre-existing personal goals more often than eliciting instinctive reactions. Citing Literature Volume62, Issue2February 2011Pages 406-418 RelatedInformation