Thomas Lansdall-Welfare, Intelligent Systems Laboratory, University of Bristol
Vasileios Lampos, Intelligent Systems Laboratory, University of Bristol
Nello Cristianini, Intelligent Systems Laboratory, University of Bristol
Abstract
We report on the analysis of 484 million tweets collected in the United Kingdom between July 2009 and January 2012, a period marked by economic downturn and some social tensions. Our analysis of sentiment expressed in that time series reveals various change points in collective mood, most noticeably two negative shifts corresponding to the announcement of spending cuts and to the riots of August 2011. We propose that constant nowcasting of certain collective properties of society is possible by monitoring the contents of social media.
