Skip to main content
View expanded cover

Analyzing Social Media Data and Web Networks pp 119–153Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Opportunities and Challenges of Analysing Twitter Content: A Comparison of the Occupation Movements in Spain, Greece and the United States

  • Chapter

Abstract

The year 2011 could well be remembered as a year marking the rebirth of protest politics on a global scale. Hundreds of thousands participated in protests against authoritarian regimes in what became known as the ‘Arab Spring’ while, in the Western world, large-scale protest campaigns shook European capitals like Madrid and Athens for months, inspiring thereafter thousands to occupy central squares in more than 200 American cities. The extensive use of digital media for organisation and mobilisation was a distinctive feature of the protest events and elicited much commentary and speculation about the political effectiveness and democratising potential of the Internet.

Keywords

  • Social Medium
  • Social Movement
  • Political Issue
  • Digital Medium
  • Twitter User

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1057/9781137276773_6
  • Chapter length: 35 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-1-137-27677-3
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Anduiza, E., Jensen, M.J. and Jorba, L. (eds.) (2012) Digital Media and Political Engagement Worldwide: A Comparative Study (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Barber, B. (2004) Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age (Berkeley: University of California Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, S.H., Kaase, M. et al. (eds.) (1979) Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, W.L. and Segerberg, A. (2012) ‘The Logic of Collective Action’, Information, Communication & Society, 15 (5), 739–768.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, W.L. and Segerberg, A. (2011) ‘Digital Media and the Personalization of Collective Action: Social Technology and the Organization of Protests Against the Global Economic Crisis’, Information Communication & Society, 14 (6), 770–799.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Bimber, B., Flanagin, A.J. and Stohl, C. (2009) ‘Technological Change and the Shifting Nature of Political Organisation’, in A. Chadwick and P. Howard (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics (London: Routledge), pp. 72–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, D.M. and Ellison, N.B. (2007) ‘Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13 (1), 1–22.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, D. and Crawford, K. (2012) ‘Critical Questions for Big Data. Provocations for a Cultural, Technological, and Scholarly Phenomenon’, Information Communication & Society, 15 (5), 662–679.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Calvo, K., Gómez-Pastrana, T., Jiménez, M.S. and Mena, L. (2011) ‘Movimiento 15M: Quiénes son y qué Reivindican?’ [15M Movement: who are they and their demands?] Zoom Político, Fundación Alternativas, no. 2011/04.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2001) The Internet Galaxy: Reflections in the Internet, Business and Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2012) Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age (London: Polity Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (2011) ‘Barómetro junio 2011’, [Barometer June 2011], available at: http://www.cis.es, date accessed 1 July 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick, A. (2012) ‘Recent Shifts in the Relationship Between the Internet and Democratic Engagement in Britain and the United States: Granularity, Informational Exuberance and Political Learning’, in E. Anduiza, M.J. Jensen and L. Jorba (eds.), Digital Media and Political Engagement Worldwide: A Comparative Study (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 39–55.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Chew, C. and Eysenbach, G. (2010) ‘Pandemics in the Age of Twitter: Content Analysis of Tweets During the 2009 H1N1 outbreak’, PLoS ONE, 5 (11), e14118.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, S. and Shane, P. (eds.) (2012) Connecting Democracy: Online Consultation and the Flow of Political Communication (Cambridge: MIT Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, R. (2008) The Good Citizen: How a Younger Generation is Reshaping America(Washington: CQ Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dimitrova, D.V., Shehata, A., Strömbäck, J. and Nord, L. (2011) ‘The Effects of Digital Media on Political Knowledge and Participation in Election Campaigns: Evidence from Panel Data’, Communication Research, available at: http://crx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/02/0093650211426004. abstract

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Orazio, D. (2012) ‘Twitter Breaks 400 million Tweet-per-day Barrier, sees Increasing Mobile Revenue’, The Verge, available at: http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/6/3069424/twitter-400-million-total-daily-tweets, date accessed 6 June 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dugan, L. (2012) ‘Twitter to Surpass 500 million Registered Users on Wednesday’, Mediabistro, available at: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/500-million-registered-users_b18842, date accessed 21 February 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Earl, J. and Kimport, K. (2011) Digitally Enabled Social Change: Activism in the Internet Age (Cambridge: MIT Press).

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Esfandiari, G. (2010) The Twitter Devolution, Foreign Policy, available at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/07/the_twitter_revolution_that_ wasnt, date accessed 7 June 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrell, H. (2012) ‘The Consequences of the Internet for Politics’, Annual Review of Political Science, 15, 35–52.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Finkel, S.E., Muller, E.N. and Opp, K-D. (1989) ‘Personal Influence, Collective Rationality and Mass Political Action’, American Political Science Review, 83 (3), 885–903.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Gladwell, M. (2010) ‘Why the revolution will not be tweeted’, New Yorker, 4 October, available at: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • González-Bailón, S., Borge-Holthoefer, J., Rivero, A. and Moreno, Y. (2011) ‘The Dynamics of Protest Recruitment Through an Online Network’, Scientific Reports, 1 (197), available at: http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/111215/srep00197/full/srep00197.html

    Google Scholar 

  • Groves, R.M., Fowler, F.J., Couper, M.P., Lepknowski, J.M., Singer, E. and Tourangeau, R. (2004) Survey Methodology (New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruzd, A., Wellman, B. and Takhteyev, Y. (2011) ‘Imagining Twitter as an Imagined Community’, American Behavioral Scientist, 55 (10), 1294–1318.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Howard, P.N. (2010) The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam (New York: Oxford University Press).

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R.F. (1990) Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Java, A., Song, X., Finin, T. and Tseng, B. (2007) ‘Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage and Communities’, Paper Presented at the Joint 9th WEBKDD and 1st SNA-KDD Workshop ‘07, San Jose, California, USA.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, M.K. and van Deth, J.W. (eds.) (1990) Continuities in Political Action. A Longitudinal Study of Political Participation in Three Western Democracies (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kriesi, H. (1995) ‘The Political Opportunity Structure of New Social Movements: Its Impact on their Mobilization’, in C. Jenkins and B. Klandermans (eds.), The Politics of Social Protest (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), 167–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwak, H., Lee, C., Park, H. and Moon, S. (2010) ‘What is Twitter, a Social Network or a News Media?’ Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on World Wide Web, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Leyne, J. (2010) ‘How Iran’s political battle is fought in cyberspace’, BBC Online, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8505645.stm, date accessed 11 February 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lotan, G., Graeff, E., Ananny, M., Gaffney, D., Pearce, I. and Boyd, D. (2011) ‘The Revolutions were Tweeted: Information Flows During the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions’, International Journal of Communication, 5, 1375–1405.

    Google Scholar 

  • Madianou, M. and Miller, D. (2013) ‘Polymedia: Towards a New Theory of Digital Media in Interpersonal Communication’, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 16 (2), 169–187.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Mandiberg, M. (2012) The Social Media Reader (New York: New York University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Margetts, H., Hale, S., Dunleavy, P. and Tinkler, J. (2012) ‘Designing the State for Essentially Digital Governance and the Era of Big Data’, Paper Presented at the International Political Science Association XXII World Congress of Political Science, July 2012, Madrid, Spain.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattes, R. and Bratton, M. (2007) ‘Learning about Democracy in Africa: Awareness, Performance and Experience’, American Journal of Political Science, 51 (1), 192–217.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • McAdam, D. (1996) ‘The Framing Function of Movement Tactics: Strategic Dramaturgy in the American Civil Rights Movement’, in D. McAdam, J.D. McCarthy and M.N. Zald (eds.), Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Framing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 338–355.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • McCaughey, M. and Ayers, M. (2003) Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice (New York: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Micheletti, M. and McFarland, A. (eds.) (2010) Creative Participation. Responsibility-taking in the Political World (Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers).

    Google Scholar 

  • Morozov, E. (2011) The Net Delusion: How not to Liberate the World (London: Allen Lane).

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller, E.N. and Opp, K-D. (1986) ‘Rational Choice and Rebellious Collective Action’, The American Political Science Review, 80 (2), 471–488.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Norris, P. (2002) Democratic Phoenix. Reinventing Political Activism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Oates, S., Owen, D. and Gibson, R. (eds.) (2006) The Internet and Politics: Citizens, Voters and Activists (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Opp, K.-D. and Hartmann, P. (1989) The Rationality of Political Protest: A Comparative Analysis of Rational Choice Theory (Boulder: Westview Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Papacharissi, Z. and Oliveira, M.d.F. (2012) ‘Affective News and Networked Publics: The Rhythms of News Storytelling on #Egypt’, Journal of Communication, 62 (2), 266–282.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Public Issue (2011) ‘Flash Bαρóμ∈ τρo 159: To κíυημα τωυ Aγαυακτισμ∈ υωυ Пoλιτώυ’ [Flash barometer 159: The movement of indignant citizens], available at: http://www.publicissue.gr/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/plateies-6-20111.pdf

  • Rainie, L., and Smith, A. (2012). Social Networking Sites and Politics. Pew Internet Project, available at: http://blogs.searchenginewiki.pewinternet.com/~/ media/Files/Reports/2012/PIP_SNS_and_politics.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Rainie, L. and Wellman, B. (2012) The New Social Operating System (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rainie, L., Smith, A., Schlozman, K.L., Brady, H.E. and Verba, S. (2012). Social Media and Political Engagement, available at: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Political-engagement.aspx

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. and Lewis, P. (2011) How Twitter was used to Spread — and Knock Down — Rumours During the Riots, The Guardian, 7 December, available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/07/how-twitter-spread-rumours-riots date accessed 7 December 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirky, C. (2011) ‘The Political Power of Social Media’, Foreign Affairs, 90 (1), 28–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. and Brenner, J. (2012) ‘Twitter use 2012’, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Pew Research Center, available at: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Twitter-Use-2012.aspx, date accessed 31 May 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. and Rainie, L. (2008) ‘The internet and the 2008 election’, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Pew Research Center, available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/The-Internet-and-the-2008-Election.aspx, date accessed 15 June 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Social-Media Observatory (2012) Just by Chance? Sentimeter Correctly Predicts #USA2012’s final results, Università degli Studi di Milano, available at: http://voicesfromtheblogs.com/2012/11/07/just-by-chance-sentimeter-correctly-predicts-usa2012s-final-results, /date accessed 7 November 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sunstein, C. (2008) Republic.com 2.0 (Princeton: Princeton University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Takhteyev, Y., Gruzd, A. and Wellman, B. (2012) ‘Geography of Twitter Networks’, Social Networks, 34 (1), 73–81.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Tarrow, S. (1996) ‘States and Opportunities: The Political Structuring of Social Movements’, in D. McAdam, J.D. McCarthy and M.N. Zald (eds.), Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Framing(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 41–61.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Theocharis, Y. (2013) ‘The Wealth of (Occupation) Networks? Communication Patterns and Information Distribution in a Twitter Protest Network’, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 10 (1), 35–56.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Tsaliki, L. (2010) ‘Technologies of Political Mobilization and Civil Society in Greece: The Wildfires of Summer 2007’, Convergence, 16 (2), 151–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tufekci, Z. and Wilson, C. (2012) ‘Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations from Tahrir Square’, Journal of Communication, 62 (2), 363–379.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Tumasjan, A., Sprenger, T.O., Sandner, P.G. and Welpe, I.M. (2010) ‘Predicting Elections with Twitter: What 140 Characters Reveal about Political Sentiment’, Proceedings of the Fourth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, pp. 178–185, available at: http://www.Aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM10/paper/viewFile/1441/1852

    Google Scholar 

  • Valenzuela, S., Park, N. and Kee, K.F. (2009) ‘Is there Social Capital in a Social Network Site? Facebook use and College Students’ Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14 (4), 875–901.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • van de Donk, W., Loader, B.D., Nixon, P.G. and Rucht, D. (eds.) (2004) Cyberprotest: New Media, Citizens, and Social Movements (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Laer, J. and Van Aelst, P. (2010) ‘Internet and Social Movement Action Repertoires: Opportunities and Limitations’, Information’ Communication & Society, 13 (8), 1146–1171.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Walgrave, S. and Rucht, D. (2010) The World Says no to War: Demonstrations Against the War on Iraq, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press).

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Waters, R.D. and Williams, J.M. (2011) ‘Squawking, Tweeting, Cooing, and Hooting: Analyzing the Communication Patterns of Government Agencies on Twitter’, Journal of Public Affairs, 11 (4), 353–363.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Yardi, S. and Boyd, D. (2010) ‘Dynamic Debates: An Analysis of Group Polarization Over Time on Twitter’, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30 (5), 316–327.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Gema García-Albacete
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yannis Theocharis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Manchester, UK

    Marta Cantijoch

  2. University of Manchester, UK

    Rachel Gibson

  3. University of Salford, UK

    Stephen Ward

Copyright information

© 2014 Gema García-Albacete and Yannis Theocharis

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

García-Albacete, G., Theocharis, Y. (2014). Opportunities and Challenges of Analysing Twitter Content: A Comparison of the Occupation Movements in Spain, Greece and the United States. In: Cantijoch, M., Gibson, R., Ward, S. (eds) Analyzing Social Media Data and Web Networks. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137276773_6

Download citation