trends in twitter talk
DESCRIPTION
This presentation looks at how celebrities, corporations and 'ordinary' people use Twitter and how their talk has changed in the last two years. The areas the presentation covers are (1) scale of Follower lists (2) types of interaction (3) hashtags (4) link analysis. I'll be giving the presentation at the MIPAA workshop, University of Coventry on 13th September 2012.TRANSCRIPT
Trends in Twitter Talk: Looking back to look forward
Dr Ruth PageUniversity of Leicester
[email protected]; @ruthtweetpage
Self branding and searchable talk
• Self branding (Marwick 2011) & micro-celebrity (Senft 2008)
• Searchable talk (Zappavigna 2011)
• Follower lists• Hashtags• Retweets• Links
Data sets
• 30 celebrity accounts• 30 ‘ordinary’ accounts• 30 corporate accounts• 2010-11: 90, 392 tweets• 2012: 87, 343 tweets• All publically available material, all English
language
Corporations• travel: @bluejet, @luxorlv, @southwestair, @british_airways,
@londonmidland, @connectbyhertz, @carnivalcruise• entertainment: @directv, @marvel, @travelchannel, @tvguide• food: @sainsburys, @waitrose, @tastidlite, @popeyeschicken,
@starbucks, @dunkindonuts, @wholefoods, @uktesco, @dunkindonuts
• technology: @emccorp, @itunesmusic, @dellcares, @costcomcares
• finance: @hoover, @hrblock, @zappos, @wachovia, @intuit• sport: @chargers, @chicagobulls• retail: @selfridges, @americanapparel, @karenmillen, @reiss,
@marksandspencer, @rubbermaid, @johnlewisretail.
List of celebrities
• Britney Spears, Ellen de Generes, Ladygaga, Oprah Winfrey, Demi Moore, Lilly Allen, Paris Hilton, Sarah Brown, Dita von Teese, Holly Willoughby, Dannii Minogue, Mischa Barton, Amanda Holden, Amy Lee, Katherine Jenkins
• Ashton Kutcher, Jimmy Fallon, Shaquille O’neill, Lance Armstrong, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stephen Fry, Dave Matthews, Jonathan Ross, Jamie Oliver, John Cleese, Philip Schofield, William Shatner, Andy Murray, Charlie Brookner, Boris Johnson
Status and Follower lists
Audiences: Follower lists
Types of Tweet
Distribution of tweet types (2010)
Celebrity Ordinary Corporate0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
UpdatesAddressed MessagesRetweets
Perc
enta
ge o
f all
Twee
ts
Distribution of tweet types (2012)
Celebrity Ordinary Corporate0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
UpdatesAddressed MessagesRetweets
Perc
enta
ge o
f all
Twee
ts
Modified Retweets
• When one member forwards a message from someone else to all their ‘followers’
• Reconfigures email forwarding• Involves two participants– Original author– Person who forwards + adds new material
• Turn-taking represented in reverse order– [Retweeter’s comment] RT [original message]
An example
Modified retweets over time
Celebrity Ordinary Corporate0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
20102012
Rela
tive
Freq
uenc
y (p
er
mill
ion
wor
ds)
Addressed messages and ‘politeness’
• Corporate accounts– For customer care– For social media outreach
• Distinctive language use (keyness)– Thanks/sorry/please/glad
• Politeness (Brown and Levinson 1987)and Face (Goffman 1959)– Face enhancing– Face threatening– Face saving
‘Thanks’ and ‘Sorry’
• Thanks – Face-enhancing– 4668 per million words (2010)– 6444 per million words (2012)
• Sorry– Face-saving– 1841 per million words (2010)– 1688 per million words (2012)
Thanks
Messages Updates Messages Updates Messages UpdatesCorporate Celebrity Ordinary
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
20102012
Rela
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freq
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y pe
r mill
ion
wor
ds
Examples
• First 3 people to tweet a shot of themselves wearing American Apparel nail polish win some of our new summer colors! http://bit.ly/bMvh4d– @AmericanApparel Tue, 25 May 2010 20:02
• We've got our winners! Thanks for all the great nail polish entries! Winners, we'll DM you shortly!– @AmericanApparel Tue, 25 May 2010 21:00
Thanks
• As a closing formulae– Thanks + name– Thanks, BR xoxo
• Thanks for the...• Thanks to X for.....– Feeback, tweeting, sharing, reaching out, your
comment, letting me know, interest, posting, kind words
– Patience, support
Sorry
Mes
sage
s
Upd
ates
Mes
sage
s
Upd
ates
Mes
sage
s
Upd
ates
Corporate Celebrity Ordinary
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
20102012
Rela
tive
freq
uenc
y pe
r mill
ion
wor
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Examples
• @username1 Sorry to hear you feel that way. Is there any particular reason why? Can I help?– @LondonMidland Thu, 09 Aug 2012 22:05
• @username2 oh. Yikes :( Really sorry about that - did you leave the store already?– @Starbucks Tue, 24 Jul 2012 19:38
Sorry
• As a closing formulae– @username3 No, we do not have pillows onboard
our planes, sorry!!• Sorry about/to hear about/for...– That/this– The (bad) experience, confusion, delay, issues,
(long) wait, transfers, queue, time spent, trouble, disappointment, embarrassment, frustration, inconvenience, hold up, problems
Rise of ‘Searchable Talk’:#Hashtags
• Originated as search terms used by updaters– Folksonomy
• Aggregate tweets about a particular topic or event (#scd, #xfactor, #occupy, #Libya)
• Idiomatic uses – Internet memes (#fail)– One-off creative expressions (#bbcwhatareyou)
• Hashtags used to increase visibility via trending topics (but now search algorithms changed so not needed)
Hashtags over time
• 2010– 9490 per million words
• 2012– 15160 per million words
Hashtags in 2010
Celebrity Ordinary Corporate0
2000
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10000
12000
14000
UpdatesAddressed Messages
Rela
tive
Freq
uenc
y (p
er m
illio
n w
ords
)
Hashtags in 2012
Celebrity Ordinary Corporate0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
20000
UpdatesAddressed messages
Rela
tive
freq
uenc
y (p
er m
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ords
)
Most frequent Hashtags (2012)
Rise of ‘Amplified Talk’
Celebrity Ordinary Corporate0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Percentage of Updates with a link
20102012
Collapse of professional/personal
2010• Celebrities
– Material about themselves– Backstage access– Promotional material (e.g.
Competitions)
• Ordinary– Articles in their field– Own blogs
• Corporations– Own web sites– Promotional offers
2012• Celebrities
– More ‘backstage’ shots– More ‘personal life’ photos– ‘Gossip’ and ‘jokes’
• Ordinary– Some still reflect professional identity– But ‘personal life’ photos and general
interests (fashion, gardening, films, food, sport)
• Corporations– Own web sites– Audience engagement through
photosharing– Charitable work
General trends in links
• Multimodal– Photos, video
• Multi-platformed– Facebook groups,
Google plus– Pinterest– Tumblr– Instagram, Daily Booth,
VintageCam, Yfrog, Whosay
– Mobile Apps
Conclusions – the way forward?
• Make your talk searchable• Enrich and amplify your
talk• Increase face-enhancing
interactions• Increase your reach across
platforms• Increase authenticity (in a
professional way)• We will see.....drop back in
2014