oklahoma tweets

Oklahoma Tweets

A 9 week study of Oklahomans’ Use of TwitterMarch 29, 2009 - May 31, 2009

Data Collection & Analysis by @mattgalloway

June 18, 2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

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Vocabulary (at least as used in this report)

• Tweet - a single Twitter post

• Tweep - an individual who posts tweets

• Hexadactylous - six fingers or toes per hand or foot respectively


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Methodology

• Custom data collection software using Twitter Search & Twitter APIs

• 11 Radius Searches

• 1,503,018 tweets collected from 21,083 tweeps from March 29, 2009-May 31,2009

• Of which 1,272,721 tweets are from 18,806 tweeps self identified as Oklahomans in their twitter profile


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Radius SearchesSearch Name Latitude Longitude Radius

Catoosa, OK 36.1888 -95.7455 80 mi

Clayton, OK 34.5894 -95.3525 85 mi

Guymon, OK 36.6827 -101.4811 80 mi

Woodward, OK 36.4336 -99.39 60 mi

Enid, OK 36.3955 -97.878 50 mi

Hobart, OK 35.0294 -99.0927 70 mi

Norman, OK 35.2225 -97.4391 70 mi

Wilson, OK 34.1619 -97.4255 50 mi

Arkansas City, KS 37.0619 -97.038 30 mi

Stillwater, OK 36.1155 -97.058 40 mi

Lawton, OK 34.6086 -98.39 40 mi


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Who’s MissingTwitter search API does not return Tweets as being from Oklahoma if the “Location” field in a tweep’s twitter profile is:

• blank

• only says “oklahoma”

• is silly (like “at my desk”)

• specifies only a city name that is attributed to another state by Twitter

• is otherwise indeterminate (“The Southwest”)

• Ponca City, Duncan, Del City (see next slide)


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Ponca City, Del City & Duncan: I’m sorry.

The “Radius Search” approach used for this study was intended to collect data from all municipalities in Oklahoma. Due to discrepancies in Twitter’s interpretation of the radius, some municipalities on the edge of the search radius were inadvertently omitted.

The 3 most significant examples are Ponca City, Del City and Duncan - none of which appear in this data for this study. All 3 of these municipalities are among Oklahoma’s top 25 most populous. The combined Twitter population of these 3 municipalities is likely less than 200.

While the omission of these 3 municipalities shouldn’t have a significant effect on the overall Oklahoma statistics, I’m sorry I missed them. As a result none of these multiplies appear in the top Twitter towns of Oklahoma list, but probably should.


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OK Twitter Census

• During this 8 week study 18,806 unique Oklahoman tweeps were identified.

• I estimate that 40%-60% of Oklahoman tweeps are “missing” due to missing/incorrect Twitter profile locations.

Oklahoma’s Estimated Twitter Population is between 31-47K Tweeps


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1 in 100 Oklahomans are active on Twitter.

The other 99 mostly think we’re nuts.


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When Does OK Tweet?

0%

4%

9%

13%

17%

Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun

Oklahoma (All) Tulsa OKC Stillwater Norman


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%Tweets by Hour

0%

1.75%

3.5%

5.25%

7%

Midnight6am

Noon6pm

11pm

0%

1.75%

3.5%

5.25%

7%

Midnight6am

Noon6pm

11pm

Stillwater

Norman


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%Tweets by Hour

0%

1.75%

3.5%

5.25%

7%

Midnight6am

Noon6pm

11pm

0%

1.75%

3.5%

5.25%

7%

Midnight6am

Noon6pm

11pm

Oklahoma City

Tulsa


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%Tweets by Hour

0%

1.75%

3.5%

5.25%

7%

Midnight6am

Noon6pm

11pm

Tulsa OKC Stillwater Norman


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University Shocker!

Oklahoma college punks tweet later in the evening than their older urban dwelling twitter counterparts and then, of course, sleep ‘til noon.

I miss college.


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Tweet Volume (of 18,806 known Oklahoman Tweeps)

0

30000

60000

90000

120000

150000

180000

3/29 4/5 4/12 4/194/26

5/35/10

5/175/24

Other OKC Tulsa Norman Edmond Stillwater

(Total Weekly Tweets for Week Starting)


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Tweet Volume (of 18,806 known Oklahoman Tweeps)

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

3/294/5

4/124/19

4/265/3

5/105/17

5/24

Stillwater Edmond Norman Tulsa Other OKC

(Total Weekly Tweets for Week Starting)


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Rural Folk Dig Oprah

The hyper growth of Twitter from earlier in the year seemingly peaked in Oklahoma during the

week of April 26, 2009.

Closer examination shows the “peak” Was exaggerated by a bump from rural Twitter tire

kickers driven by pop celebrities like Oprah, Ellen and Ashton.

They came, they went, they uttered a collective “I just don’t get Twitter.”


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Is Twitter Dead Yet?

While the media sucking celebrity hype driven Twitter explosion is over, Twitter is definitely not

dead.

It’s too early to tell but I suspect Twitter will return to a period of slow, steady sustained growth.

At the very least, there’s not yet any evidence of rapid contraction.


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Tweep Retention

Active* in April Active* in May

3,447

tweep

s defe

cted 4,57

8 new

tweep

s10,781

tweep

sret

ained

14,228 tweeps 15,359 tweeps

* “Active” meaning at least one tweet was posted during the month.

18,806 Total Observed Oklahoman Tweeps


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Tweep Retention

• 24% of Oklahomans who tweeted at least once in April did not tweet in May. #defectors

• 76% of Oklahomans who tweeted at least once in April also tweeted at least once in May. #retention

• 30% of Oklahomans who tweeted at least once in May did not tweet in April. #newtweeps

• Overall, the number of Oklahomans posting at least one tweet in May was 8% higher than the number posting in April. #growth


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Weekly Twitter Pop

0

3000

6000

9000

12000

3/294/5

4/124/19

4/265/3

5/105/17

5/24

Other OKC Tulsa Norman Edmond Stillwater

(Total Weekly Tweeps for Week Starting)


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Top Ok Twitter TownsTwitter

Pop Rank CityTwitterPop*

Real 2007Population

Real 2007 Population Rank

% of Real Pop Active on Twitter*

1 Oklahoma City 5,703 547,274 1 1.04%2 Tulsa 4,607 384,037 2 1.20%3 Norman 1,471 106,707 3 1.38%4 Edmond 1,079 78,226 6 1.38%5 Stillwater 813 46,976 10 1.73%6 Broken Arrow 468 90,714 5 0.52%7 Lawton 346 91,568 4 0.38%8 Owasso 213 26,352 14 0.81%9 Shawnee 191 30,256 13 0.63%10 Bartlesville 189 35,415 12 0.53%11 Yukon 185 22,498 18 0.82%12 Enid 163 47,008 9 0.35%13 Tahlequah 137 16,419 30 0.83%14 Midwest City 133 55,935 7 0.24%15 Claremore 127 17,312 26 0.73%16 Muskogee 121 40,015 11 0.30%17 Mustang 84 17,190 27 0.49%18 Sand Springs 76 18,450 24 0.41%19 Ardmore 69 24,625 15 0.28%20 Weatherford 67 10,097 41 0.66%21 Bethany 66 19,607 22 0.34%22 Altus 63 19,329 23 0.33%23 Sapulpa 62 20,908 20 0.30%24 McAlester 61 18,232 25 0.33%25 Moore 60 51,106 8 0.12%

* Twitter Population & % of Real Population Active on Twitter numbers are based on observed Twitter users. The real values are likely about double.


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Population Double Whammy

Generally speaking, the larger the population of a municipality, the higher the penetration of Twitter.

For Oklahoma’s twin giants Tulsa & Oklahoma City, this means exaggerating the obvious gap

between their Twitter populations and that of the rest of the state.


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Youth Density

...but population is not the whole story. A high density of young punks can also inflate a

municipality’s Twitter penetration.

Not surprisingly, college towns have disproportionately high densities of Twitter users. Stillwater, Norman, Tahlequah, Weatherford, and

Claremore all have high penetration of Twitter users.


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Stillwater is Twitteractive

Stillwater is the most Twitter active city in Oklahoma.

It’s high density of youth propels Stillwater past larger cities in Twitter use. Approximately 3 in 100 in Stillwater are active on Twitter - three times the

state average.

I think this is mostly the influence of that @billhandy.


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Questions & Comment• Please use this report in whatever way you’d like.

While I’d appreciate it if you’d attribute my work to me where appropriate we both know that nothing (but bad karma) awaits if you don’t. Meh.

• If you have questions or comments please DM or reply to @mattgalloway on Twitter. You can also email me at [email protected] or give me a call or txt at 918-808-3072.

• I’d really love it if you post about it on your blog. Be sure to send me an email if you do and I’ll come and comment.


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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Special Thanks To

@billhandy@hetty4@tashdoestulsa@WillReinier@juddwheeler@NNascenzi@andreamyers@Scyranth

@abbyannette@FishDogs@SpikeJones@henry5@RandyCowling@CarlyRush@GeraldBuckley

These folks inspire me.


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