Communities of Tweeple: How Communities Engage with Microblogging When Co-located

Most of the research done on microblogging services, such as Twitter, has focused on how the individual communicates with their community at a micro and macro level; less research has been done on how the community affects the individual. We present in this thesis some ideas about this phenomenon. We do this by collecting data of Twitter users at a conference. We collected 21,150 tweets from approximately 400 users during a five week period and additionally collected survey data from a small subset of the tweeters. By observing users of Twitter, before, during, after a specific event we discovered a pattern in postings. Specifically, we found that tweets increased the week of the conference and that by the end of the conference the network was strong. These findings lead us to conclude that collocation of communities, like conferences, has a substantial effect on online microblogging behaviors.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science

Department dc:contributor.department

Computer Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Vega, Edgardo Luis

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Pérez-Quiñones, Manuel A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Kavanaugh, Andrea L.
• Harrison, Steven R.

• Social
• Twitter
• Information
• Microblogging
• Conferences
• Network
• Communication
• Graph
• Community
• Influence

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-05112011-222646

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/32605