Questo libro esplora l'analisi del "sentiment" online attraverso le tecniche di analisi testuale applicate ai social media. Discute come le informazioni in Rete possano aiutarci a comprendere fenomeni sociali, dai mercati finanziari alle malattie, analizzando casi specifici come la felicità degli italiani e le campagne elettorali del 2012-2013.
Nowcasting and Forecasting Elections with Social Media
Focusing on the role of social media in electoral campaigns, the authors conduct a meta-analysis to identify conditions that enhance the accuracy of social media-based electoral forecasts. By examining case studies from France, Italy, and the United States, they illustrate the effectiveness of 'Sentiment Analysis' in predicting electoral outcomes, highlighting its superior accuracy compared to traditional methods. This exploration reveals critical insights into the intersection of technology and political forecasting.
Focusing on the reactions of ordinary Arab-speaking social media users to Islamic State propaganda, this book shifts the narrative from the typical analysis of IS's targeting strategies. It provides a detailed examination of the Arabic discourse surrounding IS from its peak in October 2014 to the fall of Raqqa in September 2017. Analyzing approximately 29 million Arabic tweets, the authors highlight recurring themes and key events, offering insights into the evolving political landscape and the dynamics of online conversations between IS and its adversaries.
The Rise of Valence Political Campaigning
This book investigates the ideological conditions inducing political actors to highlight corruption issues through valence campaigns. Using case studies and comparative analyses of party programmes, legislatives speeches and social media data, the author demonstrates that the more parties and/or candidates present a similar policy programme, the more they rely on valence campaigns. In other words, as the ideologies of parties have become increasingly similar over recent decades, the content of political competition has substantially shifted from policy to non-policy factors, such as corruption issues. These dynamics, and the ideological considerations underpinning them, also provide a novel perspective on recent phenomena in contemporary democracies, such as the growth of negative campaigning, as well as populist strategies based on anti-elite rhetoric. The book will appeal to students and scholars interested in political corruption, valence politics, populism and electoral campaigning.