Twitter Report Step 1

To get started complete the following steps:

1. Work with Twitter: Create or make sure you have access to a Twitter account. We will not be tweeting related to this class, but you will need it for our first research project.

Once you have your Twitter account confirmed, your homework task is to begin looking for hashtags that will translate into topics for a social science research project. You will need to move back and forth between brainstorming about topics you find interesting and searching on Twitter for hashtags that capture the topic and have significant activity.

First, explore topics by browsing through the possibilities at sites like this or this. You can also choose a pressing current social topic and hashtag--e.g., Covid 19, protests, etc. Be careful as you select topics; some current trends may be harder to study because of their sheer volume; some more focused topics may have less ongoing conversation. Explore to review several options. Take notes and develop some lists of possibilities for research.

Next, conduct searches on Twitter for hashtags related to some of the topics you have identified. As you search, look for topics/hashtags that have a good deal of activity. Also look for conversation that seems to offer some variations on perspectives or that might be interesting for analysis. Make a list of at least four potential hashtags.

2. Reading: Follow this link to our posting with today's reading assignment.