Title |
The Digital Evolution of Occupy Wall Street
|
---|---|
Published in |
PLOS ONE, May 2013
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0064679 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Michael D. Conover, Emilio Ferrara, Filippo Menczer, Alessandro Flammini |
Abstract |
We examine the temporal evolution of digital communication activity relating to the American anti-capitalist movement Occupy Wall Street. Using a high-volume sample from the microblogging site Twitter, we investigate changes in Occupy participant engagement, interests, and social connectivity over a fifteen month period starting three months prior to the movement's first protest action. The results of this analysis indicate that, on Twitter, the Occupy movement tended to elicit participation from a set of highly interconnected users with pre-existing interests in domestic politics and foreign social movements. These users, while highly vocal in the months immediately following the birth of the movement, appear to have lost interest in Occupy related communication over the remainder of the study period. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 35 | 29% |
Germany | 6 | 5% |
United Kingdom | 5 | 4% |
Spain | 4 | 3% |
France | 3 | 3% |
Mexico | 3 | 3% |
Canada | 2 | 2% |
Russia | 2 | 2% |
Australia | 1 | <1% |
Other | 7 | 6% |
Unknown | 51 | 43% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 101 | 85% |
Scientists | 14 | 12% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 2% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 2 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 6 | 3% |
Netherlands | 2 | <1% |
Ireland | 2 | <1% |
Spain | 2 | <1% |
Brazil | 2 | <1% |
France | 1 | <1% |
Portugal | 1 | <1% |
Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
Finland | 1 | <1% |
Other | 6 | 3% |
Unknown | 192 | 89% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 52 | 24% |
Student > Master | 33 | 15% |
Researcher | 32 | 15% |
Student > Bachelor | 25 | 12% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 17 | 8% |
Other | 33 | 15% |
Unknown | 24 | 11% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Social Sciences | 77 | 36% |
Computer Science | 35 | 16% |
Arts and Humanities | 14 | 6% |
Business, Management and Accounting | 13 | 6% |
Psychology | 10 | 5% |
Other | 39 | 18% |
Unknown | 28 | 13% |