Emotions, behaviors and places: Mapping sentiments with behaviors in Japanese tweets

Abstract

Emotions are the basis of human behavior and an important part of spatial constructions. Despite numerous efforts to leverage spatio-temporal big data from social media to capture public sentiments, there is a lack of understanding of how individuals' behaviors play a role in people's sentiments at places they visit. Thus, this study aims to advance our understanding of the complex relationships between sentiments, behaviors, and places. Through a case study in Japan in 2021, we analyzed one year of countrywide geotagged social media by fine-tuning a pre-trained Japanese BERT model (accuracy: 74 %). The results emphasize the importance of understanding user emotions by considering people's behaviors, even within similar types of locations. Our research framework would be beneficial for urban planners and policymakers to enhance urban spaces.