RESOURCE MOBILIZATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA: THE ROLE OF INFLUENTIAL ACTORS

This research in progress studies the role of social media as a resource for contemporary social movements in their endeavors to bring about social change. Current studies on this topic have largely regarded social media as an alternative channel for communicating situational information during protests against repressive regimes or perceptions of fraudulent democracy. Drawing on theories of resource mobilization and social networks, we present a framework for studying how the presence of influential and popular actors in social networks, can influence the acquisition process and the number of new followers by a social movement organization. We collected Twitter data for a major social movement organization in the global justice movement and found evidence suggesting that the existence of popular figures, impacts to some extent, the audience acquired by the social movement organization. We also conclude that the geographic location of these popular figures acts as a moderator for this effect. Our study lays the groundwork for answering questions regarding the sociotechnical dynamics that influence the propagation of ideologies in online environments promoted by groups and organizations concerned with societal issue

Audience Acquisition in Online Resource Mobilization: Quantifying the Relationship with Influential Actors

The literature recognizes the potential of social media as an alternative channel for promoting the causes of social movements, but little is known about the factors that act on the endeavors by social movement organizations to expand their base of sup-porters in social media environments. Drawing on theories of resource mobilization and social networks, we present a framework for studying how the presence of in-fluential actors or users with a high number of followers in online social networks, can influence the acquisition of new followers by a social movement organization. We collected Twitter data from a major organization in the global justice movement and found evidence that suggests a relationship exists between influential actors and the audience acquired by the social movement organization. However, our model suggests this relationship dwindles as the popularity or number of followers of in-fluential actors reaches extreme large values. Our study sheds light for addressing future questions concerning the factors that drive the propagation of ideologies in social media environments raised by actors of social movements and other social figures in their efforts for bringing about social change

Better Intelligence Through Microblogging: Text Mining Tweets for Actionable Information

The goal of this paper is to evaluate specific event-related Twitter posts, called tweets, for their usability as intelligence data. Using text mining software for Natural Language Processing to attempt to establish the best keyword search strategy for actionable information, 2000 tweets documenting 2 independent events were analyzed. Additionally, the Twitter users who provided the tweets were evaluated for source reliability to determine if their information was likely to be credible. The results of this study suggest that the best information retrieval strategy for tweets featuring reliable and actionable information, is to use hashtagged topics and/or location details as search keywords. Not only is "location" frequently a facet of determining actionability, the co-location of event and user increases the likelihood of a high-reliability source.Master of Science in Library Scienc

A Complex Social Network Analyses of Online Finanical Communties in Times of Geopolitcal Military and Terrorist Events

Given the advances in technology the field of social network analysis has very much hit the forefront in recent years. The information age harnesses the use of social network analysis for multiple industries and for solving complex problems. Social network analysis is an important tool in the world of the military and counter intelligence, whether it’s the capture of Osama Bin Laden or uncovering hidden Al Qaeda terrorist networks, the world around us is built on networks, be that hidden or otherwise. Online social networks give new information in the world of intelligence agencies similarly online financial communities such as Yahoo Finance gives intelligent information to knowledge hungry investors. This thesis is concerned with the exploration and exploitation of online financial community dynamics and networks using social network analysis (SNA) as a mechanism. Social network analysis measurement techniques will be applied to understand the reaction of online investors to military and terrorist geopolitical events, the stock market’s reaction to these events and if it is possible to predict military stock prices after military and terrorist geopolitical events