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Social Media for Research: Top 5 Questions and Answers (in 5 minutes)

Joe Murphy

jmurphy@rti.org

@joejohnmurphy @surveypost

RTI International

1. Can social media replace surveys?

!  Short answer: no

!  Longer answer: yes, if you accept that social media is like a giant, poorly designed opt-in survey –  No limit on responses or types –  Everyone can see each others’ answers –  What’s the question?

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2. How do social media users differ from non-users?

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3. Does sentiment analysis really work? !  It depends!

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Green = Kaiser Family Foundation survey: family better off with health care reform?

Orange = Positive sentiment about health care reform on Twitter

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4. Hasn’t there been a lot of research showing social media is really effective in research?

!  Yes, but be a smart consumer. Watch out for:

–  File cabinet effect –  Curse of big data –  Transparency in methods –  Face validity

"Public health researchers and hospitals can use Facebook “likes" as a proxy for hospital quality and patient satisfaction."

Really???

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5. With all these caveats, is there a point in looking at social media? !  YES!! When it is fit for use and done ethically.

!  Designing new questions and needing context –  E.g. What other topics get discussed along with certain health issues?

!  Cognitive pretesting –  Crowdsourcing approach to investigate single items

!  Recruitment/sample building –  Nonprobability: convenience, respondent-driven (RDS) –  Probability: if target is those using social media, can be done

!  Linking social media and survey responses –  E.g. ask survey respondents if they would supply Twitter handle and incorporate

Tweets in analysis

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With all these caveats, is there a point in looking at social media? !  YES!! (Cont.)

!  Outreach/Dissemination –  Identify existing social media groups who can endorse or allow for

encouragement to participate –  Use social media to generate interest in research findings

!  Locating –  When a phone number or address cannot be found

!  Diary studies –  No need to develop new software –  Let people respond using a platform they know

!  Voice of the customer, CRM, online communities

jmurphy@rti.org | @joejohnmurphy | @surveypost

Please tweet! #CASRO @LoveStats #MRX

Social Media as a Customer Service Tool Annie Pettit Chief Research Officer Peanut Labs annie@peanutlabs.com @LoveStats on Twitter www.peanutlabs.com

: )!

Please tweet! #CASRO @LoveStats #MRX 3/12/14 2

#fail

Please tweet! #CASRO @LoveStats #MRX 3

Facebook User

Facebook User

Facebook User

#ftw

Please tweet! #CASRO @LoveStats #MRX

There ARE Rules

1. Be prompt 2. Be human 3. Be genuine 4. Be respectful 5. Don’t pass the buck

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Please tweet! #CASRO @LoveStats #MRX

Most Important Rule

• Don’t cross the invisible fence

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Discovering page interests of specific audiences

FACEBOOK AD TARGETING

!   Goal:

On Facebook and Twitter, help client optimize ad reach (CTRs, Page Likes) to a target audience

!   Target Audience:

!   Ages 18-54 years old

!   “Low SES” is defined as those who have not completed high school or have at most completed high school (or equivalent)

!   Cigarette Smokers

Target Audience & Goal

X

Easy to target a specific age range

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?

1.   Survey: Screen respondents for target audience demographic and behavioral characteristics; offer broad category interests

2.   Scrape: Scrape respondent’s Facebook data

3.   Analyze: Look for consistency between stated category interests and actual page categories

4.   Follow-up: From intersecting list, narrow category interests to specific “top 10” pages and ask for specific page “likes” to extend reach

5.   Create Model & Test: Run A/B test using test ad and feed results back into model

6.   Repeat.

Process

Scraping: Consent

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Ask for consent to scrape Facebook data

Facebook app again asks for consent and makes clear what is going to be scraped

Page categorization

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Broad Categories (“Forest”): Specific Categories (“Trees”):

TV Shows: Much more likely to like a television show FB page

Females: Family Guy and Sponge Bob FB pages Males: The Simpsons FB pages

Music: Much more likely to like music FB pages FB pages of Vin Diesel and Wiz Khalifa; < 35 females: Eminem, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and TI; < 35 males: Will Smith

Food/Restaurants: More likely to like fast-food restaurant FB pages & much more likely to share responsibility of grocery shopping

Taco Bell, McDonalds, Coca-Cola FB pages

Magazines: More likely to like magazines within specific genres

Females: Cosmopolitan magazine FB pages Males: Fitness magazines FB pages

Alcohol: More likely to like alcohol FB pages Jack Daniels/Jim Beam FB pages, and less likely to like Absolut Females: Smirnoff

Sports: Slightly less likely to engage with sports FB pages

Males only: FB pages of Ultimate Fighting Championships and the NFL

Politics: Not likely to engage with political FB pages

Males only: More likely to have served in the military

Employment: Less likely to work in healthcare

Shopping: no significant difference in category Amazon.com and Walmart FB pages

Low SES Smoker Profile

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When compared to high SES smokers (p=.05, n=500)

U.S. Census Bureau and Social Media Jennifer'Hunter'Childs'

Center'for'Survey'Measurement'U.S.'Census'Bureau'

Our Progression

!  Listening'!  Reac>ng'!  Engaging'!  Learning'

Listening

Reacting

Engaging

•  A'“Merry%Band%of%Loveable%Nerds…”'–HarEord'Courant'

'•  “The%Undiscovered%Gem%of%

Federal%Twi;er%Feeds…”—Business'Week'

120,217'Followers' 47,137'Followers'

Learning

Learning over Time News'Men>ons:'Census'

TwiUer'Men>ons:'Census'

Closer Look

Census and Privacy News'Men>ons'

TwiUer'Men>ons'

Census and Privacy – Closer Look