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Researching news discussion on Twitter : New methodologies

QUT ePrints (Queensland University of Technology)Published 22 March 2012Open access
Axel Bruns, Jean Burgess
Citations46
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Abstract

Twitter has become a major instrument for the rapid dissemination and subsequent debate of news stories, and comprehensive methodologies for systematic research into news discussion on Twitter are beginning to emerge. This paper outlines innovative approaches for large-scale quantitative research into how Twitter is used to discuss and cover the news, focusing especially on #hashtags: brief identifiers which mark a tweet as taking part in an established discussion.

Keywords

Social SciencesPhysics and Astronomy