Measuring Twitter Sentiment and Implications for Social Psychological Research

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine whether Twitter comments on moral issues might be classified into sentiment categories and whether underlying emotions or thoughts will influence online interactions differently than they do in the real world. A mixed methods study involving qualitative analysis was conducted to compare Twitter sentiment about a current emotionally charged topic – immigration – amongst users. Results indicated that 73% of the commenters favorably view the idea of immigration reform and/or immigrant acceptance into the U.S. and are open to online dialog. Conversely, the findings for negative comments demonstrated that users likely have underlying feelings or thoughts on the subject of immigration that in turn may cause them to interact differently online than they do in a real world setting. Stereotyping and/or bigotry may influence their communications both online and off. These findings support the need for further research to improve upon existing social psychology theories. Additionally, despite challenges present in studies of this nature, Twitter shows great promise for conducting social psychological studies in the future.