The semantic analysis of the hashtag #blacklivesmatter

Abstract

The article analyzes the use of the hash tag #blacklivesmatter during its most active use on the social network Twitter - from May 25 to June 7, 2020. Using the OSoMe: the IUNI observatory on social media big digital data analytics service, the correlation of this hashtag with others was investigated, and then the results were interpreted and systematized, as well as semantic analysis of hashtags. Correlating hashtags were combined by us into more than 10 thematic groups. The data obtained allow us to see exactly how the Black lives matter social movement is represented in the Internet space, as well as to track the assessment of the movement by Internet users. The relevance of this work is due to the fact that the social movement Black lives matter, which developed from the hash tag of the same name, gained even more popularity and turnover in the summer of 2020. The movement and the problems it raises are in the center of world attention at the moment. Attempts to investigate the rhetoric of this movement in social networks have not been made before.