1. International Conference on e-CASE & e-Tech 2011, Tokyo, Japan Geo-information and Twitter Use An Analysis of Top Twitterians’ Profiles Yon SooLim,Jiyoung Park, Jiyoung Kim, Han Woo Park WCU WebometricsInstitutute Yeungnam University hanpark@ynu.ac.kr

2. Introduction The growth of social network sites (SNSs) Facebook, Myspace, Cyworld, Mixi, Orkut, etc Internet as social media: Interactive communication Expansion of social networks/Diffusion and sharing of information New SNSs platform, Twitter Micro-blogging service Since launched in 2006, Twitter currently has more than 100 million users across the world.

3. Introduction Twitter is becoming a major research topic in Internet studies, but it is still in a beginning stage. This study aims to explore a pattern of Twitter use regarding top twittarians. Specifically, it examines the relationships between twitter use and users’ profiles.

4. Theoretical arguments on SNSs use Self-disclosure A key factor SNSs use is sociability. Sociability is related to extraversion (human characteristic). Extraverted users are more willing to self-disclose than introverted ones. Also, they may be more active communicators in SNS environment. Knowledge gap (digital divide) Regarding new technology adoption and diffusion, Urban area > rural area Metropolitan area > small city area

5. Twitter Features Post and read short messages, limited to 140 characters.

6. Twitter Features Twitter profile can be modified by users. Some people disclose everything to the public. Other people hide themselves. User difference can be easily identified by the existence of Location. Also, the geo-information can indicate area size (#population) in which users lives.

7. Twitter Features Although the profiles are different, other features (#followers, #following, #tweets) are automatically provided by Twitter.com. Twitter use #followers: popularity #following: social networking #tweets: communication activity

8. Research Questions Regarding Twitter use, [Self-disclosure] RQ1. What are the differences between geographically identified users and non-identified users? [Digital divide] RQ2. What are the differences between great metropolitan area and small city area?

9. Method Data Source: Social Media Rank for Twitter from spinn3r (http://spinn3r.com/rank) Top 1,000 twitterian list were generated on June 13, 2009. 964 twitterians were considered for this study 36 twitter accounts were disappeared. Gathering user profiles Twitter scraper: an API-based program by WWI Location, #following, #follower, #tweet Manual coding (Metropolitan) area population for each user Reference: each country’s national statistics

10. Method Location info. Non-identified: 324 users Identified: 640 users Great metropolitan area: 317 users Other city area: 323 users (Criterion population#: 5,000,000: sample median) Analysis strategy Mann-Whitney U test Identify the relationships between geographic information and twitter use (#following, #follower, #tweet)

11. Results Geo-infoby country Great metro area

12. Results

13. Results

14. Results

15. Discussion This study examined the relationships between top Twitter users’ geo-information and their usage. Findings US citizens are dominated in top ranked twittarians. Users who provide location info. are more actively use of Twitter. Users in great metropolitan area have more popularity (#followers) than users in other city area. Users in other city area are more active to make social relationships (#following) and communicate with others (#tweets) than users in great metropolitan area.

16. Discussion From these findings, this study suggest: Self-disclosure can be a key factor in Twitter use. City size in which users lives can be a determinant of Twitter use. Regarding Twitter use, geographic digital divide and information dependency should be more examined in future research.

17. Thank you for your attention.