Social networks. South Park S14E04 "You Have 0 Friends" Twitter Reaction to Events Often at Odds with Overall Public Opinion. By Amy Mitchell and Paul Hitlin The reaction on Twitter to major political events and policy decisions often differs a great deal from public opinion as measured by surveys. This is the conclusion of a year-long Pew Research Center study that compared the results of national polls to the tone of tweets in response to eight major news events, including the outcome of the presidential election, the first presidential debate and major speeches by Barack Obama. At times the Twitter conversation is more liberal than survey responses, while at other times it is more conservative. Often it is the overall negativity that stands out.
Much of the difference may have to do with both the narrow sliver of the public represented on Twitter as well as who among that slice chose to take part in any one conversation. A More Liberal Twitter Reaction to Some Events In some instances, the Twitter reaction was more pro-Democratic or liberal than the balance of public opinion. Daily Download: Assessing the Gap Between Twitter Follower Opinion and Poll Data. JEFFREY BROWN: And finally tonight, to our Daily Download segment. During the campaign, it was called Obama for America, President Obama’s online effort to galvanize support.
In his second term, it’s morphed into Organizing for Action, again reaching out for support, this time on particular issues and again using social media. This week, the president addresses the group for the first time. And I talked to our Daily Download team, Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz, about it and more when we sat down together yesterday. Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz, welcome back. LAUREN ASHBURN, Daily-Download.com: Thank you. HOWARD KURTZ, Newsweek/CNN: Thank you. JEFFREY BROWN: All right, so we talked a lot during the campaign about this notion of using social — social media for the president and Mitt Romney, for that matter, to reach out.
Lauren, what are they doing now with this new morphed organization? HOWARD KURTZ: Gun control. JEFFREY BROWN: Well, exactly, the question, what are they asking people to do? Facebook Manners And You.