For my third method, I wanted to focus on the usage of Affective and Objective tweets by tweeters that included both activists and journalists. I wanted to focus on the last week of November in particular to see how the intensity of the tweets changed from the beginning. I also applied keywords that include: Police OR Activists OR Protestors. I included both Retweets and original tweets.
The question I asked was: During the last week of November, how did users tweet? Were they more Affective of Objective? Did they utilize visuals? How can we analyze their tweets and their intent?
I received a total of 1,503 results and I am confident in the way I decided to code them. The overall results indicated that the tone was slightly less intense compared to when the incident initially took place. However, tweeters where still very expressive and observant of the events around them. I found three types of tweets. 1) Affective tweets that included a lot of emotion and expression. One example is:
“RT @tchop__StL: Christine Byers is now targeting specific protesters who have nothing to do with her police-fed bullshit. #Ferguson http://t.co/k5eTr21DNH”
Or
“RT @YourAnonGlobal: this is so funny to me hahah #Ferguson protesters have been leaving “police traps” around the city. http://t.co/KSgoKFZe5u”
In the first tweet we see that the tweeter is using aggression to make his point and in the second we see that the tweeter is using sarcasm. 2) The second type of tweets we can see are objective where the tweeters ares simply observing and reporting the events around them. An example:
RT @MzzzMariah: protesters inside Walmart #Ferguson https://t.co/g7bNa6rp3o
OR
Protesters peacefully entered Maplewood Walmart near #Ferguson - reports (Photo via @KWRose) http://t.co/02xcC6EptD http://t.co/96sM0AjaJo
3) the third type of tweets I saw were in fact a combination of both affective and objective tweets. These tweets not only expressed emotion but also were observational. Here is an example:
“Objectively, this is an weak protest. Their only win is that the police are ESCORTING them and therefore shutting down streets. #Ferguson”
OR
I am so beyond tired of watching police and elected officials fuck up. DO SOMETHING RIGHT. #Ferguson
Although one may argue that these tweets are either more affective or more objective it is important to analyze the undertone of the tweets. These tweeters are not only observing but also expressing their views and reactions at the same time which give out a powerful message and makes the tweet stand out.
Other observations I made during the course of this analysis is that there was an obvious rage against the police. The tweeters were actively notifying any police activity during the course. Another observation I made was that a lot of these tweets included visuals in order to make their point and therefore increased the authenticity of their tweets.
Overall, my analysis helped me to see the different trends that still existed during the last week of November and allowed me to unveil some of the characteristics that were prevalent in the tweets. My initial impression of the data was that it would only strictly include affective and objective results (Also the other two) but I realized after a careful analysis that there is a way that one tweet can possess more than one characters which I found in my data.
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