A new analysis from the Pew Research Center shows that what you read on Twitter may not reflect the opinion of the general public.
A yearlong study released on Monday compared the reaction on Twitter to the results of national opinion polls after eight significant news events, and found that public opinion as measured in Pew’s telephone surveys was often inconsistent with the tone of conversations on Twitter.
A public opinion survey after President Obama’s re-election, for example, found that 52 percent of Ameicans were happy with the outcome, but 77 percent of Twitter conversations about the election’s result were deemed positive.
Although Twitter users are younger and tend to be more Democratic than the general public, Twitter reaction does not always tilt more liberal.
After the president’s second inaugural address in January, only 13 percent of Twitter messages were considered positive, while a national poll conducted by Pew found 48 percent of Americans had a positive reaction to Mr. Obama’s speech. And after John Kerry’s nomination as secretary of state, just 6 percent of Twitter reaction was positive, compared with a 39 percent favorable rating for Mr. Kerry in a Pew telephone ! poll.
Pew researchers point to a number of reasons for the differences. Only about one in 10 Americans say they use Twitter or read Twitter messages, according to a Pew survey on news consumption, and they are not representative of the general public. National general opinion surveys are limited to adults 18 and over, but those under 18 can use Twitter to their hearts’ content.
Finally, Pew researchers point out that those who comment on Twitter about news events tend to share their opinions on subjects that interest them the most, whereas national surveys ask questions of a random sample of Americans, regardless of their personal engagement on the issues.
On Twitter, for example, there were nearly 14 million posts relevant to Mr. Obama’s re-election, almost 1.7 million about his 2013 inaugural speech, and just over 70,000 regarding Mr. Kerry’s confirmation as secretary of state. Those who commented about Mr. Kerry being confirmed are not necessarily the same as those who did about te re-election.
