How Twitter Data Can be Used to Aid Psychology Researchers during the Coronavirus Pandemic

By Neema Mohseni

What do you get when you cross a global pandemic with data from one of the world’s largest social media platforms? A lot of information.

Twitter is one of the most popular social media websites today; every single senator of the United States has an account, making it one of the most direct channels of access between citizens and government officials¹. Despite the data privacy concerns that a platform like Twitter raises, this is the kind of technology you might expect to be coupled with a democratic country.

Life as we know it has shifted dramatically in the past several months since the global spread of concern regarding the novel coronavirus. According to the American Psychological Association, stress levels in American adults are nearly 20% higher than in 2019, the highest single-year jump in reported stress since 2007².

Approved institutions and independent researchers can use Twitter data for a number of reasons, like academic research or analysis of advertisement performance. During these trying times, access to this data can provide us with a window into our collective mind. By filling out this Google Form, and upon approval, a registered Twitter developer can obtain access to literally millions of tweets.

Average daily users of Twitter increased by 24% in the past year (from Q1 2019 to Q1 2020)³.

A social psychologist might compare the text data from tweets in varying countries and compare the frequency of stress keywords to determine how different countries are reacting to the coronavirus. Or maybe a political psychologist might analyze tweets posted by American senators to monitor which words are most frequently used and why. It isn’t perfect — it’s no experimental study — but it is a research tool and there is the advantage of large sample sizes.

In a time where so many of us have so many questions, we do have this opportunity which can help provide some insight into our collective psyche.

[1]: Golbeck, J., Auxier, B., Bickford, A., Cabrera, L., Conte McHugh, M., Moore, S., Hart, J., Resti, J., Rogers, A. and Zimmerman, J. (2018), Congressional twitter use revisited on the platform’s 10‐year anniversary. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 69: 1067–1070. doi:10.1002/asi.24022

[2]: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/report

[3]: https://s22.q4cdn.com/826641620/files/doc_financials/2020/q1/Q1-2020-Shareholder-Letter.pdf