Presentation Title

How Twitter Impacts the Topic of Climate Change

Presenter Information

Taylor LewisFollow
Gaviann LevyFollow

Panel Name

Innovations in Atmospheric and Climate Change Research and Reporting

Location

Lecture Center Concourse

Start Date

3-5-2019 3:00 PM

End Date

3-5-2019 5:00 PM

Presentation Type

Poster Session

Academic Major

Communication

Abstract

The online discourse about climate change has changed the way social media users receive information about such topics. Typically, people would go to scientific studies and online articles for the source of information about issues like climate change. However, with the ever-growing presence of social media applications like Twitter, people can display their voices and opinions. In this research, we look at studies surveying twitter about the topic of climate change, as well as look at the word climate through the use of the Hedonometer. This tool can calculate the response on Twitter to the word ‘climate.’ Also, we collected data from an online survey in which asks questions about the self-awareness of climate change on Twitter. From our research, we have gathered that the word ‘climate’ and the topic of climate change is talked about more frequently and negatively when a natural disaster strikes. The data we collected suggests that more people become aware of climate change when talked about from an online discourse. When there is a discussion on Twitter about change and rallies towards decreasing climate change, people look at the topic with positivity— thus indicating that people are becoming more aware of the problem of climate change in the media rather than denying it on Twitter.

First Faculty Advisor

Chang Sup Park

First Advisor Email

cpark2@albany.edu

First Advisor Department

Journalism Department

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May 3rd, 3:00 PM May 3rd, 5:00 PM

How Twitter Impacts the Topic of Climate Change

Lecture Center Concourse

The online discourse about climate change has changed the way social media users receive information about such topics. Typically, people would go to scientific studies and online articles for the source of information about issues like climate change. However, with the ever-growing presence of social media applications like Twitter, people can display their voices and opinions. In this research, we look at studies surveying twitter about the topic of climate change, as well as look at the word climate through the use of the Hedonometer. This tool can calculate the response on Twitter to the word ‘climate.’ Also, we collected data from an online survey in which asks questions about the self-awareness of climate change on Twitter. From our research, we have gathered that the word ‘climate’ and the topic of climate change is talked about more frequently and negatively when a natural disaster strikes. The data we collected suggests that more people become aware of climate change when talked about from an online discourse. When there is a discussion on Twitter about change and rallies towards decreasing climate change, people look at the topic with positivity— thus indicating that people are becoming more aware of the problem of climate change in the media rather than denying it on Twitter.