Social media has become an important means of everyday communication. It is a mechanism for “sharing” and “resharing” of information. While social network platforms provide the means to users for resharing/reblogging (aka retweeting), it remains unclear what motivates users to share. Predicting the spread of content is quite important for several purposes such as viral marketing, popular news detection, personalized message recommendation and on-line advertisement. Social content systems store all the information produced in the interactions between users. However, to turn this data into information that allows us to extract patterns, it is important to consider the different phenomena involved in these interactions. In this work, two phenomena that influence the evolution of networks are studied for Twitter: diffusion of information and communication among users. Previous studies have shown that history of interaction among users and properties of the message are good attributes to understand the retweet behavior of users. Factors like content of message and time are less investigated. We propose a prediction model for retweet actions of users. It formulates a function which ranks the users according to how receptive they are to a particular message. The function generates a confidence score for the edges joining the initiator of the message and the followers. Two different pieces of information propagate through different users in the network. We divide the task of calculating confidence score into two parts. The first part is independent of the test tweet. It models transmission rate of the tie between the initiator and the follower. We call this as ‘Pairwise Influence Estimation’. The second part incorporates the tweet properties and user activeness as per time in the ranking function. The proposed model exploits all the dimensions of information dif-fusion process-influence, content and temporal properties. We have captured local aspects of diffusion. It has been observed that users do not read all the messages on their site. This results in shortcomings in the above models. Considering this, we first study the temporal behavior of users’ activities, which directly reflects their availability pertaining to the upcoming post. Also, as it is a continuous task of predicting retweet behavior, we design a user-centric, and temporally localized incremental classification model by considering the fact that users do not read all their tweets. We have tested the effectiveness of this model by using real data from Twitter. We demonstrate that the new proposed model is more accurate in describing the information propagation in microblog compared to the existing methods. Our model works well when we consider different classes of users depending on their activity patterns. In addition, we also investigate the parameters of the model for different classes of users. We report some interesting distinguishing patterns in retweeting behavior of users.

General purpose Twitter sentiment analysis is a novel field that is closely related to traditional Twitter sentiment analysis but slightly differs in some key aspects. The main difference lies in the fact that the novel approach considers the unfiltered public Twitter stream while most of the previous approaches often applied various filtering steps which are not feasible for many applications. Another goal is to yield more reliable results by only classifying a tweet as positive or negative if it distinctly consists of the respective sentiment and mark the remaining messages as uncertain. Traditional approaches are often not that strict. Within the course of this thesis it could be verified that the novel approach differs significantly from the traditional approach. Moreover, the experimental results indicated that the archetypical approaches could be transferred to the new domain but the related domain data is consistently sub par when compared to high quality in-domain data. Finally, the viability of the best classification algorithm could be qualitatively verified in a real-world setting that was also developed within the course of this thesis.

Nya tekniker som Web 2.0 har med en tvåvägskommunikation utvecklat förutsättningarna på Internet som i sin tur bidragit till sociala medier som Facebook, Twitter och Instagram. Denna tillväxt har ändrat marknadsföring från att rikta sig mot ”rätt” kunder till att skapa en relation med sina kunder. Företag använder sociala medier i större utsträckning då de har insett betydelsen av att finnas aktiva på olika sociala medier. Eftersom plattformarna används på olika sätt av både konsumenterna som företagen, vilka typer av inlägg passar företagen att publicera beroende på plattformen för att sedan påverka sina följare? Studien har för avsikt att analysera fyra svenska företags sätt att använda sig av och sprida budskap på sociala medier. Syftet besvaras med stöd ifrån studiens teoretiska referensram och även studiens egna insamling av data. Denna del bestod av en netnografiskobservation som undersöker hur de fyra företagen kommunicerar på de olika plattformarna idag samt två intervjuer, på en av de observerade företaget och på en PR-byrå hållits. Syftet är att exemplifiera kommunikationsverktygen/strategierna de använder samt hur de interagerar med sina konsumenter för att nå ut via de olika plattformarna. Frågorna studien vill behandla och bygger på är följande: • Hur använder svenska företag de olika plattformarna idag? • På vilka sätt skiljer sig användningen av dessa? • Hur ser företagens interaktion ut på de olika plattformarna? Utifrån diskussionen uppvisade företagens användning av de olika plattformarna inte en likvärdig frekvens av deras aktivitet på Facebook, Twitter och Instagram. Man kunde även se branschspecifika skillnader, klädbranschen kontra telekommunikationsbranschen resulterade i att företagen var aktiva på olika sätt. Företag som H&M och Gina Tricot publicerade mer frekvent och även under helgerna i jämförelse med Tele2 och Telia. Genom webbens utveckling (web 2.0, 3.0) är konsumenter inte längre passiva och intagit en ny roll i deras relation till företagen. Studiens resultat påvisar tydligt hur sociala medier fungerar som en tvåvägskommunikation inte enbart mellan konsumenterna utan även mellan företaget och konsument. De olika plattformarna kunde användas som ett verktyg till kommunikationsmixen men även som ett kommunikationsverktyg för att stärka kundrelationen. / New techniques like web 2.0 has with a two-way communication developed the conditions we find with Internet today and this in it’s turn has contributed to different social media platforms’ like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This has changed marketing as we know it, from aiming to the “right” customers to aiming towards creating a relationship with its’ customers. Most companies have discovered the value of using social media. Since different platforms are used in different way, what kind of content should the companies use depending on the platform and affect its followers? This thesis intends to look in to four companies’ ways of using and spreading their “message” through social media. This is answered with help from the theory this thesis is using and the thesis’ own data. Based on the discussion the companies use of the various platform are not equivalent on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The clothing industry versus the telecommunication industry result was that these companies use the platform in different ways. Companies like H&M and Gina Tricot had a more published more frequently compared to companies like Tele2 and Telia. With the development of the web, consumers are not passive and has adapted a new role in their relationship towards companies. The result of this thesis clearly shows how social media works as a two-way communication and not just between the consumers but also between the consumers and the companies. The conclusion ofthis thesis was that the companies can use social media as an added tool to the communication mix but it can also be used as a communication tool to strengthen customer relations.

Denna studie analyserar i vilken utsträckning Twitter använts som nyhetskälla under 2016 och vad som är utmärkande för nyhetsartiklar där tweets citerats. Relationen mellan journalister och deras källor, Hermidas approach kring “Ambient Journalism” samt teorin om Gatekeeping utgör det teoretiska underlaget. Tidningar som ingår i analysen är dagstidningen Dagens Nyheter och kvällstidningen Aftonbladet. Arbetet baseras på en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av 450 artiklar från ovannämnda tidningar. Dessa artiklar har kodats med hjälp av ett kodschema med tillhörande tolkningsregler som utformats i enighet med studiens frågeställningar. Undersökningen visar att journalister använder sig av Twitter främst för att krydda artikeln och för att illustrera ett exempel. Den utmärkande tonen i de analyserade artiklarna är oftast neutral. Flest referenser från Twitter hittades i Aftonbladet och då var det oftast idrottare eller politiker som citerades. Utifrån studiens resultat kan slutsatserna dras att relationen mellan journalisten och källan fortfarande präglas av att elitkällor får störst utrymme i nyhetsrapporteringen. Även det faktum att journalisternas roll som gatekeepers förminskas i takt med en ökad närvaro av Twitterkällor, vars tweets oftast kopieras och klistras in ordagrant i en artikel. Med utgångspunkt i resultatet diskuterar vi huruvida den journalistiska professionaliteten kan påverkas negativt av en för frekvent användning av Twitter i nyhetsrapporteringen. Vidare kan siffrorna vi presenterar utgöra underlag för vidare forskning kring förhållandet mellan Twitter, journalistik och objektivitet.

Denna uppsats undersöker vilket innehåll USA:s president Donald Trump fyllde begreppen ”vi” och ”dom” med via sitt Twitterkonto under de sista tre veckorna av presidentvalrörelsen 2016. Analysen motiveras av att den kan ge en fingervisning om vilken politik Trump kommer att verka för som president. Forskningsfrågan för studien är: Med vilket innehåll fyller Donald Trump, genom sitt Twitterkonto, signifikanterna ”vi” och ”dom”? Uppsatsen ingår i forskningsfältet politisk kommunikation och utgår från ett teoretiskt ramverk som lägger stor vikt vid språkets funktion i konstruktionen av verkligheten. Som metod används diskursanalys, där betydelserna för ”vi” och ”dom” tolkas utifrån hur begreppen sammankopplas med andra betydelsebärande begrepp och den kontext som tweetarna är skrivna i. I uppsatsens analys framkommer det att Trump konstruerar en motsättning mellan ”vi” och ”dom” som baseras på religiös tillhörighet och ursprung, och där ”dom” som är muslimer eller har invandrat från Latinamerika utgör problemet. Utifrån den konstruerade problembilden kan politiska krav som att stoppa invandringen från muslimska länder och att deportera miljontals invandrade från Latinamerika, framstå som logiska lösningar. Lösningar som också har presenterats av Donald Trump. Denna typ av politiska förslag riskerar leda till att ytterligare öka främlingsfientligheten och de sociala spänningarna i USA. / This paper examines the content US President Donald Trump filled the terms "us" and "them" via his Twitter account during the last three weeks of the presidential election campaign in 2016. The analysis is motivated because it can give an indication of what kind of policy Trump will suggest as president. The research question for this study is: With what content does Donald Trump, through his Twitter account, fill the signifiers "us" and "them"? The essay is part of the research field of political communication and is based on a theoretical framework which places emphasis on the function language has as a tool for the construction of reality. Discourse analysis is used as method, which implicates that the meanings of "us" and "them" is interpreted on the basis of how the concepts are connected with other meaningful concepts and the context in which the tweets are produced. According to the analysis of this paper, Donald Trump constructs an opposition between "us" and "them" based on religious affiliation and origin, in which "them" – who are Muslim or immigrants from Latin America – are the problem. Based on this constructed conflict, the political demands to stop immigration from Muslim countries and deport millions of immigrants from Latin America, appears as logical solutions. Solutions that has also been presented by Donald Trump. This type of policy proposals could lead to a further strengthening of the social divisiveness and an increase of xenophobia in USA.

The purpose of this study has been to analyze - by the use of critical discourse analysis - how constructions of ensamkommande (unaccompanied minors) were expressed on Twitter in 2015. The purpose of this analysis has been to investigate what consequences these constructions might have for how people interpret and understand unaccompanied minors and what kind of impact that could have on the social work carried out for the target group. The material was comprised by every tweet written in Swedish and containing the word ensamkommande on Twitter during 2015. The study has been made from a social constructionist  perspective and the method for analysis has been Fairclough’s three dimensional model. The result showed that eight discourses could be identified. The majority of these could be said to have a negative attitude towards unaccompanied minors and portrayed them in a very negative way. The few discourses that could be said to have a positive attitude towards the target group also contributed to the very negative construction of them. The result also showed that the main producers of the material, and thereby the negative construction of unaccompanied minors, were private individuals, politicians, journalists and media. The conclusion is that the construction of unaccompanied minors could have a negative impact on social work since it can affect how people in general perceive the target group. This could lead to both structural and individual impact regarding the social work with unaccompanied minors. How people interpret and understand the concept of unaccompanied minors could affect how people vote in general elections which could lead to changes in legislation and policies to better answer towards the very negative construction of unaccompanied minors. Such changes of legislation and policies could have a negative impact on the social workers ability to maneuver in their work with the target group. There is also a risk that social workers incorporate the construction of unaccompanied minors so that the work with the target group may be based on prejudiced and general assumptions about them. / Syftet med denna studie har varit att med hjälp av kritisk diskursanalys undersöka hur konstruktioner av begreppet ensamkommande tog sig i uttryck på Twitter under 2015 och vilka konsekvenser dessa konstruktioner kunde tänkas få för människors förståelse av begreppet ensamkommande samt det sociala arbetet med ensamkommande. Materialet består av samtliga tweets på svenska innehållande begreppet ensamkommande som publicerades på den sociala medieplattformen Twitter under 2015. Vi har utgått från ett socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv och använt oss av kritisk diskursanalys med Faircloughs tredimensionella modell som analysmetod. I resultatet kunde åtta diskurser urskiljas. Majoriteten av diskurserna kunde sägas vara negativt inställda till ensamkommande och framställde ensamkommande på ett mycket ogynnsamt sätt. De få diskurser som kunde sägas vara positivt inställda till ensamkommande bidrog dock till den väldigt vinklade konstruktionen av målgruppen. Resultatet visade även att de aktörer som stod för störst del av materialet, och därigenom störst del av konstruktionen av ensamkommande, var privatpersoner, politiker, journalister och media. Slutsatserna är att konstruktionen av ensamkommande kan påverka det sociala arbetet, då den kan leda till att människor får en mycket negativt vinklad förståelse och uppfattning av ensamkommande. Detta kan i sin tur leda till att lagstiftning och riktlinjer som reglerar socialarbetares handlingsutrymme kan förändras för att bättre svara mot den negativa konstruktionen av målgruppen. Det finns även en risk att socialarbetare införlivar konstruktionen av ensamkommande och arbetet med målgruppen kan komma att utgå från fördomsfulla och generella antaganden om ensamkommande.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar o resultado da análise e identificação de padrões e comportamentos de postagens na rede social Twitter monitorando um termo específico em um período definido de tempo. Após a extração e tratamento dos dados obtidos do Twitter, explicitando dentre as postagens quais são oriundas de usuários geradores de notícias, foram analisadas informações de topologia da rede de usuários do experimento, inclusive com o detalhamento das informações de propagação e duração das postagens: dados e comportamentos os quais buscamos reproduzir utilizando simulação por agentes / The present work aims to present the result of the analysis and identification of patterns and behaviors of Twitter posts monitoring a specific term in a period. After the extraction and treatment of the data obtained from Twitter, emphasizing among the posts which are generated from news agency users, were analyzed the topology information about the network of users of the experiment, including details of propagation information and duration of the posts: data and behaviors that we seek to reproduce using agent simulation

Le sociologue Bourdieu définit le capital social comme : "L’ensemble des ressources actuelles ou potentielles qui sont liées à la possession d’un réseau durable de relations". Sur Twitter, les abonnements, mentions et retweets créent un réseau de relations pour chaque utilisateur dont les ressources sont l’obtention d’informations pertinentes, la possibilité d’être lu, d’assouvir un besoin narcissique, de diffuser efficacement des messages.Certains utilisateurs Twitter -appelés capitalistes sociaux - cherchent à maximiser leur nombre d’abonnements pour maximiser leur capital social. Nous introduisons leurs techniques, basées sur l’échange d’abonnements et l’utilisation de hashtags dédiés. Afin de mieux les étudier, nous détaillons tout d’abord une méthode pour détecter à l’échelle du réseau ces utilisateurs en se basant sur leurs abonnements et abonnés. Puis, nous montrons avec un compte Twitter automatisé que ces techniques permettent de gagner efficacement des abonnés et de se faire beaucoup retweeter. Nous établissons ensuite que ces dernières permettent également aux capitalistes sociaux d’occuper des positions qui leur accordent une bonne visibilité dans le réseau. De plus, ces méthodes rendent ces utilisateurs influents aux yeux des principaux outils de mesure. Nous mettons en place une méthode de classification supervisée pour détecter avec précision ces utilisateurs et ainsi produire un nouveau score d’influence. / Bourdieu, a sociologist, defines social capital as : "The set of current or potential ressources linked to the possession of a lasting relationships network". On Twitter,the friends, followers, users mentionned and retweeted are considered as the relationships network of each user, which ressources are the chance to get relevant information, to beread, to satisfy a narcissist need, to spread information or advertisements. We observethat some Twitter users that we call social capitalists aim to maximize their follower numbers to maximize their social capital. We introduce their methods, based on mutual subscriptions and dedicated hashtags. In order to study them, we first describe a large scaledetection method based on their set of followers and followees. Then, we show with an automated Twitter account that their methods allow to gain followers and to be retweeted efficiently. Afterwards, we bring to light that social capitalists methods allows these users to occupy specific positions in the network allowing them a high visibility.Furthermore, these methods make these users influent according to the major tools. Wethus set up a classification method to detect accurately these user and produce a newinfluence score.

Submitted by William Justo Figueiro (williamjf) on 2015-07-17T23:13:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 35c.pdf: 1699465 bytes, checksum: d02851ad31e9068e1eae089ab0df0940 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-17T23:13:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 35c.pdf: 1699465 bytes, checksum: d02851ad31e9068e1eae089ab0df0940 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Nenhuma / O surgimento de novas tecnologias e as inovações em mídias sociais têm alterado a forma como as pessoas se comportam. Destacadamente as Redes Sociais estão cada vez mais inseridas na vida das pessoas. Nunca houve tanto desenvolvimento, penetração, diversificação, dispersão da informação, comunicação em tempo real, compressão do espaço e tempo, concomitante com a pluralidade de perspectivas, definições, análises e de cenários prospectivos sobre os possí- veis desdobramentos dos fatos do presente. Convergência está em todo lugar e nunca foi tão fácil atingir um público tão grande. Diante deste cenário exploramos as pesquisas existentes e propomos uma abordagem para analisar a relevância de mensagens do Twitter, monitorando a sua evolução na rede e estabelecendo a influência exercida em um espaço demográfico. Desenvolvemos uma aplicação capaz de fazer esta monitoração, com intuito de verificar e validar o modelo proposto. / The appearance of new technologies and innovations in social media has changed the way how people behave themself. Remarkably Social Networks are more and more incorporated in people’s lives. There has never been so much development, penetration, diversification, dispersion, real-time communication, compression of space and time, concomitant with a plurality of perspectives, definitions, analysis and prospective scenarios on the possible unfolding of the facts of the present. Convergence is everywhere and has never been so easy to achieve such a large audience. In this scenario we explore the existing research and we propose an approach to analyze the relevance of Twitter messages, monitoring its evolution in the network and establishing the influence in a demographic space. We develop an application able to do this monitoring, with the intent to verify and validate the proposed model.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:21:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Synesio Consolo Filho.pdf: 4080820 bytes, checksum: 58000d4da5aa4da3b4912b6ac5c6d7c9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This thesis is about the power of political communication in virtual social networks, from its beginning until today. It is based on Twitter search of three candidates for mayor in the municipal elections of 2012 in São Paulo. The focus of the work is to try to understand the links between communication and politics in virtual networks that connect our society. The central hypothesis of the research is that, in virtual social networks, communication takes on a spectacular character, marked by entertainment and the dispersion of ideas, with regard to the question of content production with very little entertainment and concrete objectivity campaign, with use of the seductive imagery of the voting public. We analyze the relationships between social networks and virtual contemporary society, for some named as the information society. Writing addresses the language and its evolution throughout history, how your popularity was and how it can contribute to election campaigns. Also brings historical aspects of the development of new information technologies in society from personal computers to the convergence of media, and the rise of Twitter. It is expected to present an overview of the political journey in municipal elections in the city of São Paulo in terms of image on Twitter inserted in new languages arising from these new technological devices. The analyzes were also based on the messages of candidates in the scientific methodology used for the research field called Discourse Subject Collective (DSC) of the political campaign for municipal elections in the city of São Paulo in 2012 / Esta tese versa sobre o poder da comunicação política nas redes sociais virtuais, desde o seu início até nossos dias. Baseia-se em pesquisa do Twitter de três candidatos a prefeito nas eleições municipais de 2012, em São Paulo. O foco do trabalho consiste em tentar compreender os vínculos entre comunicação e política nas redes virtuais que interligam nossa sociedade. A hipótese central da pesquisa é de que, nas redes sociais virtuais, a comunicação assume um caráter espetacular, marcado pelo entretenimento e pela dispersão de ideias, no que diz respeito à questão de produção de conteúdo com muito entretenimento e pouca objetividade concreta de campanha, com utilização da sedução do imaginário do público eleitor. Analisam-se as relações entre as redes sociais virtuais e a sociedade contemporânea, para alguns nomeada como sendo a sociedade da informação. Aborda-se a linguagem escrita e sua evolução ao longo da história, como se deu a sua popularização e de que forma isso pode contribuir para campanhas eleitorais. Também traz aspectos históricos do desenvolvimento das novas tecnologias da informação na sociedade desde os computadores pessoais até a convergência das mídias, e o surgimento do Twitter. Prevê-se apresentar um panorama da caminhada política nas eleições municipais na cidade de São Paulo em termos de imagem no Twitter inserida nas novas linguagens decorrentes desses novos aparatos tecnológicos. As análises foram baseadas também nas mensagens dos candidatos sob a metodologia científica utilizada para a pesquisa de campo chamado Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC) da campanha política às eleições municipais na cidade de São Paulo em 2012