Analyzing emotions on Twitter during the 2014 Purdue University shooting crisis

Elaheh Molla Allameh, Purdue University

Abstract

Social media has recently attracted much attention as an emergency management tool. Providing public emotional support is one of the aspects of emergency management where social media can be extremely useful. However, before we can effectively use social media for this purpose, we need to fully understand the dynamics of emotions on social media platforms. This study contributes to this understanding. In this thesis I look into the emotional expressions on Twitter following the 2014 Purdue shooting incident. I analyze how different types of users emotionally reacted to the incident during the critical one and a half hours following the shooting. Various types of emotions and their trends over this time period are described and analyzed. Moreover, I give some suggestions for providing effective emotional support using social media in times of crisis.

Degree

M.S.

Advisors

Vorvoreanu, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Social research|Communication|Web Studies

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