Labels and sentiment in social media: On the role of perceived agency in online discussions of the refugee crisis

Ju-Sung Lee, Adina Nerghes
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引用次数: 8

Abstract

By focusing on the recent events in the Middle East, that have pushed many to flee and seek refuge in neighboring countries or in Europe, we investigate dynamics of label use in social media, the emergent patterns of labeling that can cause further disaffection and tension, and the sentiments associated with the different labels. To achieve this, we examine key labels pertaining to the refugee/migrant crisis and their usage in the user comment thread of a highly viewed and informational video of the crisis on YouTube. The use of labels indicate that migration issues are being framed not only through labels characterizing the crisis but also by their describing the individuals themselves. The sentiments associated with these labels depart from what one would normally expect; in particular, negative sentiment is attached to labels that would otherwise be deemed neutral or positive. Interestingly, both positive and negative labels exhibit increased negativity across time. Using topic modeling and sentiment analysis jointly, we discover that the latent topics of the most positive comments show more overlap than those topics of the most negative comments, which are more focused and partitioned. In terms of sentiment, we find that labels indicating some degree of perceived agency or opportunity, such as 'migrant' or 'immigrant', are embedded in less sympathetic comments than those labels indicating a need to escape war-torn regions or persecution (e.g., asylum seeker or refugee). Our study offers valuable insights into the direction of public sentiment and the nature of discussions surrounding this significant societal event, as well as the nature of online opinion sharing.
社交媒体中的标签和情绪:关于感知代理在难民危机在线讨论中的作用
通过关注最近发生在中东的事件,这些事件促使许多人逃离并在邻国或欧洲寻求庇护,我们研究了社交媒体中标签使用的动态,可能导致进一步不满和紧张的新标签模式,以及与不同标签相关的情绪。为了达到这个目的,我们检视了与难民/移民危机有关的关键标签,以及他们在YouTube上一段高浏览量和资讯性的危机视频的用户评论线中的使用情况。标签的使用表明,移民问题不仅是通过描述危机的标签,而且还通过描述个人本身的标签来界定的。与这些标签相关的情绪与人们通常期望的不同;特别是,负面情绪被贴上了原本被认为是中性或积极的标签。有趣的是,随着时间的推移,积极和消极的标签都表现出越来越多的消极情绪。结合话题建模和情感分析,我们发现最正面评论的潜在话题比最负面评论的潜在话题有更多的重叠,更集中、更分割。在情绪方面,我们发现,与那些表示需要逃离饱受战争蹂躏的地区或迫害的标签(例如,寻求庇护者或难民)相比,表明某种程度的感知能动性或机会的标签,如“移民”或“移民”,嵌入在较少的同情评论中。我们的研究为公众情绪的走向、围绕这一重大社会事件的讨论性质以及在线意见分享的性质提供了有价值的见解。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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