TwitterExplorer-Energy: Change Energy Behavior

Social Media Analytics for Monitoring and Changing Energy Consumption Behavior

With the increasing adoption of Social Media, such as Twitter or Facebook, new opportunities for studying public conversations and shaping public opinion arise. This project explores whether and to what extent social media acts as a useful tool for tracking conversations related to energy consumption and for detecting and catalyzing positive changes in energy consumption behavior among users of social media platforms.

The overall focus of this collaboration is on the development and application of a social media analysis framework for studying energy consumption behavior on Twitter and related social media platforms. Specifically, we aim to (i) study the extent to which social media are used by the general population to lead conversations about energy consumption, (ii) track energy consumption-related conversations in social media and (iii) develop means to validly detect and potentially trigger changes in energy consumption behavior through social media. This research is based on the premise that social media users are market leaders, early adopters, and influencers. Using networkanalytics, we seek to provide insights on how communiteis of qawareness, interest and action develop.

Specific aims of the research include:

• Monitor the extent to which ecolinguistic terms appear in social media used by the general population
• Track presence, participation and meaning of energy consumption-related conversations in social media and
• Develop means to validly detect and potentially trigger changes in energy consumption behavior through social media
• Examine the larger social influences and context (environment, climate, local and global events) on the conversation regarding energy, environment and climate change

For addressing these objectives, it is essential that expertise from two different areas of research, that is (a) studies of energy consumption and energy consumption behavior and (b) social media analytics, is effectively combined.

This research is a collaboration among:

• the Stanford ARPAe project to develop an ecolinguistic taxonomy and describe the evolution of communities of awareness, interest, influence and action: Martha G. Russell, June Flora and Carrie Armel

• the Active Intelligence Laboratory for data collection and analysis: Neil Rubens and Rafael Perez

• the Agents and Social Computation group at Graz University of Technology, led by Markus Strohmaier, with students Claudia Wagner and Jan Poeschko.

The objective of this collaboration is to further develop and apply these frameworks, concepts and tools in the context of a particular domain, using social media as a new, emerging media for analyzing and characterizing energy consumption behavior on Twitter. In bringing together two largely unconnected areas of research, this project has implications for, for example, identifying new ways of tracking public opinion related to energy consumption and for analyzing domain-specific, user generated content on social media platforms. Insights are intended to contribute to the development and application of a social media analysis framework for studying energy consumption behavior on Twitter and related social media platforms.

For more information, contactMartha Russell.