Towards a methodology for examining Twitter follower accession

Authors

  • Axel Bruns Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology
  • Darryl Woodford Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology
  • Troy Sadkowsky

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v19i4.5211

Keywords:

Social Networks, Twitter, Users

Abstract

The analysis of content and meta–data has long been the subject of most Twitter studies, however such research only tells part of the story of the development of Twitter as a platform. In this work, we introduce a methodology to determine the growth patterns of individual users of the platform, a technique we refer to as follower accession, and through a number of case studies consider the factors which lead to follower growth, and the identification of non–authentic followers. Finally, we consider what such an approach tells us about the history of the platform itself, and the way in which changes to the new user signup process have impacted upon users..

Author Biographies

Axel Bruns, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology

Dr Axel Bruns leads the QUT Social Media Research Group. He is an Associate Professor in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Bruns is the author of Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage (2008) and Gatewatching: Collaborative Online News Production (2005), and a co-editor of A Companion to New Media Dynamics and Uses of Blogs (2006). He is a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. His research Website is at snurb.info, and he tweets as @snurb_dot_info.

Darryl Woodford, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology

Darryl Woodford is a Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation (CCI), Queensland University of Technology. He has a background in Engineering and Game Studies, including research on the agency of avatars in virtual environments. His current research includes work on social norms and regulation in the video game and gambling industries, and he is leading the development of new digital methods for measuring and evaluating television audience engagement using social media analytics.

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Published

2014-03-23

How to Cite

Bruns, A., Woodford, D., & Sadkowsky, T. (2014). Towards a methodology for examining Twitter follower accession. First Monday, 19(4). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v19i4.5211