Upload
cody-buntain
View
167
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Cody Buntain@[email protected] of Maryland
Erin McGrath, Gary LaFree{ecmcgrath,lafree}@umd.eduSTART Center, UMD
Jennifer [email protected] of Maryland
Comparing Social Media and Traditional Surveys Around the Boston Marathon Bombing
1
#Microposts201611 April 2016
Montreal, Quebec CA
Social media platforms produce huge data sets and let users respond to events
instantly
3 - Introduction
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
Face
book*
China
USA
Twitte
r*
Popu
latio
n (B
illion
s)
1 100 10,000 1,000,000 100,000,000
New posts
Since I’ve been talking
5 - Introduction
Socialmediaisn’t
representa1ve!
Surveysarebe7er!Socialmediais
cheap,big,and
easy!
The Argument
- Introduction7
The Point
To compare social media and survey data
Compared across: • Costs • Data Types • Relevance • Validity
The Bombing from Multiple Perspectives
• Three-wave survey on public perceptions of law enforcement
• The bombing happened to occur between waves
• Post hoc survey on information seeking/sharing during crises
• Included respondents exposed to Boston Marathon coverage
• Analysis of public response to the bombing on Twitter
• 134 million tweets from April 2013
10 - Case Study
Comparing Data Types
14 - Results
Survey Data
Social Media
Data
• Attitudinal data
• Behavioral data
• Demographic data
Comparing Data Types
15 - Results
Survey Data
Social Media
Data
• Attitudinal data
• Behavioral data
• Demographic data
Comparing Data Types
16 - Results
Survey Data
Social Media
Data
• Attitudinal data
• Behavioral data
• Demographic data
Comparing Data Types
19 - Results
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
04-01
04-03
04-05
04-07
04-09
04-11
04-13
04-15
04-17
04-19
04-21
04-23
04-25
04-27
04-29
Percen
tageofT
weetsCon
tainingEm
o=on
Date
Anger Disgust Fear Happiness Sadness Surprise
Emotions in Boston-related Tweets from the US
Takeaway: Social media and survey data provide
different types of data
- Results
Comparing Data Types
21
With some overlapAnd both are useful for different purposes.
Comparing Relevance
24 - Results
Temporal Relevance
2 mon
ths
March ‘
13
April ‘13
May ‘1
3
June
‘13
July ‘
13
Augus
t ‘13
Comparing Relevance
25 - Results
Topical Relevance
April 1 ‘
13
April 8 ‘
13
April 15
‘13
April 22
‘13
April 29
‘13
May 6
‘13
“police”
in
Twitte
r
#delhirape Protests
Comparing Relevance
26 - Results
Geographic Relevance
Distribution of Twitter Users Target Country for Survey
Comparing Relevance
27 - Results
Geographic Relevance
Distribution of Twitter Users Target Country for Survey
???
Takeaway: Social media data is more timely than survey
data, but surveys can better target topical and geographic responses for higher quality.
- Results
Comparing Relevance
28
- Results
Comparing Cost
31
$300/month
$11/month
+ $3,000/month
$3,311/month
Average one-time fee:
$70,000
Takeaway: Storing large sets of social media data,
contracting with a data reseller, and processing it at scale is significantly cheaper than
running nationally representative surveys.
- Results
Comparing Cost
33
Takeaway: The typical definition of validity is difficult (and perhaps undesirable) to apply to social media
data.
- Results
Comparing Validity
37
Complements and Synergies
• Use both social media and surveys where possible
• Social media may provide first approximation when time and cost are factors
• Survey data can be of higher quality, more targeted, and can ask deeper questions
39 - Conclusions
Cody Buntain@codybuntain
University of Maryland
Comparing Social Media and Traditional Surveys Around the Boston Marathon Bombing
40
#Microposts201611 April 2016
Montreal, Quebec CA
Thank you! Questions?