The social #ausopen: An analysis of Twitter use during sporting events (2012)

Undergraduate: Brittany Hayes

Faculty Advisor: Stephanie Haas
Department: Information Science

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This work examines the use of the popular microblogging service, Twitter, during sporting events, considering the implications it might have for retrieval of microblogged information. Using a system of coding developed for the study, content analysis is performed on a set of tweets relating to the Australian Open 2012 tennis tournament. Three broad user types—general population, administrative entities, and players—are identified for this purpose, and comparisons in content type are made between them. Findings suggest that significant differences exist between content type posted and type of user. Suggestions for further research are also provided.