Abstract
There is an ongoing discussion about the applicability of social media data in scientific research. Moreover, little is known about the feasibility to use these data to capture Quality-of-Life (QoL). This study explores the use of social media in QoL research by capturing and mapping people’s perceptions about their life based on geo-located Twitter data. The methodology is based on a mixed-method approach, combining manual coding of the messages, automated classification, and spatial analysis. Bristol is used as a case study, with a dataset containing 1,374,706 geotagged Tweets. Based on the manual coding results, three QoL domains were analysed. Results show the difference between Bristol wards in number and type of QoL perceptions in every domain, spatial distribution of positive and negative perceptions, and differences between the domains. Furthermore, results from this study are compared to the official QoL survey results from Bristol, statistically and spatially. Overall, three main conclusions are underlined. First, to an extent, Twitter data can be used to evaluate QoL. Second, based on people’s perceptions, there is a difference in QoL between neighbourhoods in Bristol. And, third, Twitter messages can be used to complement QoL surveys, but not act as a proxy for traditional survey results. The main contribution of this study is in recognising the potential Twitter data have in QoL research. This potential lies in producing additional knowledge about QoL that can be placed in a planning context and effectively used to improve the decision-making process and enhance quality-of-life of residents.
Highlights
Quality-of-life research and possibilities of social media as a new data sourceGrowing concern for differences within cities resulted in increased number of studies focused on community quality-of-life and well-being of the population (Costanza et al 2007; Haas 1999; Pacione 2003a, b)
People using Twitter in the city of Bristol in the year 2013 have opinions on different topics that can be categorised in various QoL domains
The main objective of the present study was to examine the possibility of extracting people’s perceptions about subjective QoL from Twitter and determine whether Twitter data can be used as proxies for QoL survey data
Summary
Quality-of-life research and possibilities of social media as a new data sourceGrowing concern for differences within cities resulted in increased number of studies focused on community quality-of-life and well-being of the population (Costanza et al 2007; Haas 1999; Pacione 2003a, b). An objective approach measures QoL within different domains, using official statistics and information about the living environment, while a subjective approach evaluates levels of satisfaction people feel in or about a certain area. Both approaches are present in current QoL research, in recent years, subjective measures are used more extensively. Interest in combining both approaches has increased as well (Ballas 2013)
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