Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 University of Tehran

2 PhD student at Allameh Tabataba'i University of Communication Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

3 PhD student in Communication Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive and reliable approach to doing social research on Persian Twitter. Twitter has been one of the most favorable social platforms in Iran for years. Despite such popularity, research on Twitter has not been grown as it is supposed to be. Therefore, we are trying to fill this gap by suggesting a complete approach in this article. This approach is based on social network analysis, ethnographic content analysis, and social media critical discourse studies. Combining these methods, we are going beyond the limitations of current approaches which focus on either users or tweets. This approach provides researchers with a convenient method from the selection of gathering data strategy and time to statistical and final analysis. We suggest helpful and reliable concepts and tools to research on Twitter in each step. Moreover, we present a strategy to coding users’ demographic variables in addition to an approach to reach a close and valid reading of tweets. This approach could consist of a convenient basis for future studies.

Keywords

کرمانی، حسین (1398) روایت و شکلگیری آن در توئیتر فارسی؛ تحلیل شیوههای داستانگویی کاربران ایرانی در توئیتر در جریان زلزله کرمانشاه، فصلنامه زبان‌شناسی اجتماعی. دوره 3، شماره 1. صص 57-74.
کرمانی، حسین (1395) مشاهده مشارکتی در گروههای تلگرامی؛ راهنمای عمل و نمونه موردی، فصلنامه مطالعات فرهنگ- ارتباطات، دوره 17، شماره 35.
Blondel, V. D., Guillaume, J.-L., Lambiotte, R., & Lefebvre, E. (2008). Fast unfolding of communities in large networks. Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, 2008(10) https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-5468/2008/10/P10008
Borra, E., & Rieder, B. (2014). Programmed method: developing a toolset for capturing and analyzing tweets. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 66(3), 262–278. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-09-2013-0094
Bruns, A., & Stieglitz, S. (2013). Towards more systematic Twitter analysis: metrics for tweeting activities. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(2), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2012.756095
Dijck, J. Van, & Poell, T. (2013). Understanding Social Media Logic. https://doi.org/10.12924/mac2013.01010002
Easley, D., & Kleinberg, J. (2010). Networks, Crowds, and Markets: A Book by David Easley and Jon Kleinberg. In Book. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511761942
Foucault, Michel (1982) ‘The subject and power: An afterword’, in Hubert Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow (eds), Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 208–26.
Golder, Scott A. and Michael Macy. (2012). ‘‘Social Science with Social Media.’’ ASA Footnotes 40:7.
Himelboim, I., Sweetser, K. D., Tinkham, S. F., Cameron, K., Danelo, M., & West, K. (2014). Valence-based homophily on Twitter: Network Analysis of Emotions and Political Talk in the 2012 Presidential Election. New Media & Society, 1461444814555096-. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814555096
Hooshmand, K. (2015, July). “Soft Power” and its manifestations in international diplomacy. CGCS Media Wire. Retrieved from: http://www.global.asc.upenn.edu/soft-power-and-its-manifestations-in-international-diplomacy/
Jørgensen, M., & Phillips, L. (2002). Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Kadushin, C. (2002). Introduction to Social Network Theory. Networks. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2254-9
Krippendorff, K. H. (2004). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Lingel, J. (2017). Networked Field Studies: Comparative Inquiry and Online Communities. Social Media + Society, 3(4), 205630511774313. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117743139
Mahrt, M., & Scharkow, M. (2013). The Value of Big Data in Digital Media Research. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57(1), 20–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2012.761700
Marchant, J., Ormson, T., Honari, A., & Sabeti, A. (2018). #iranvotes2017: Analysing the 2017 iranian presidential elections through Telegram, Twitter and Instagram. London.
Marchant, J., Sabeti, A., Bowen, K., & Kelly, J. (2016). # IranVotes: Political Discourse on Iranian Twitter during the 2016 Parliamentary Elections. Retrieved from https://smallmedia.org.uk/work/iranvotes
Marshall, C. (2012). Big Data, the crowd and me. Information Services & Use, 32(3–4), 215–226. https://doi.org/10.3233/ISU-2012-0677
Nunn, H., & Biressi, A. (2010). ‘A trust betrayed’: celebrity and the work of emotion. Celebrity Studies, 1(1), 49–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392390903519065
Parsi, T., Moaveni, A., Jones, M. O., Heyrani, H., & Shahbaz, H. (2018). Faking the online debate on Iran. Retrieved September 17, 2018, from Al Jazeera website: https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2018/09/faking-online-debate-iran-180915121527882.html
Saldaña, J. (2015). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. London: SAGE.
Schreier, M. (2014). Qualitative Content Analysis. In U. Flick (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (pp. 170–184). London: SAGE Publications.
Scott, J. (2000). Social network analysis: A handbook. In Sage Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.344
Snelson, C. L. (2016). Qualitative and Mixed Methods Social Media Research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 15(1), 160940691562457. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406915624574
Tufekci Z (2014) Big questions for social media big data: Representativeness, validity and other methodological pitfalls. In: Proceedings of the Eighth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 1–4 June 2014, pp.505–514. Palo Alto, CA: The AAAI Press.