Geography of Twitter networks

► We examine the influence of distance and related variables on Twitter ties. ► A substantial share of ties (39%) lies within the same metropolitan region. ► For non-local ties distance, borders, and language differences affect Twitter ties. ► The number of airline flights between the parties is the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social networks Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 73 - 81
Main Authors: Takhteyev, Yuri, Gruzd, Anatoliy, Wellman, Barry
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier B.V 2012
Subjects:
Air travel
Borders
Boundaries
Cluster analysis
Distance
Geography
Internet
Language
Nation
Nation-states
Proximity
Regional Differences
Social Networks
Twitter
Proximity
Language
Nation-states
Social networks
Twitter
Air travel
Distance
ISSN:0378-8733, 1879-2111
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:► We examine the influence of distance and related variables on Twitter ties. ► A substantial share of ties (39%) lies within the same metropolitan region. ► For non-local ties distance, borders, and language differences affect Twitter ties. ► The number of airline flights between the parties is the best predictor of ties. The paper examines the influence of geographic distance, national boundaries, language, and frequency of air travel on the formation of social ties on Twitter, a popular micro-blogging website. Based on a large sample of publicly available Twitter data, our study shows that a substantial share of ties lies within the same metropolitan region, and that between regional clusters, distance, national borders and language differences all predict Twitter ties. We find that the frequency of airline flights between the two parties is the best predictor of Twitter ties. This highlights the importance of looking at pre-existing ties between places and people.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ObjectType-Article-2
ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:0378-8733
1879-2111
DOI:10.1016/j.socnet.2011.05.006