Big Data Meets Survey Science

6Attention to Campaign Events: Do Twitter and Self‐Report Metrics Tell the Same Story?

Josh Pasek^1,2, Lisa O. Singh^3,4, Yifang Wei³, Stuart N. Soroka^1,2, Jonathan M. Ladd^4,5,6, Michael W. Traugott², Ceren Budak⁷, Leticia Bode⁸, and Frank Newport⁹

¹Department of Communication & Media, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

²Center for Political Studies, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

³Computer Science Department, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

⁴Massive Data Institute, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

⁵McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

⁶Department of Government, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

⁷School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

⁸Communication, Culture, and Technology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

⁹Gallup Inc., Washington, DC, USA

6.1 What Can Social Media Tell Us About Social Phenomena?

In recent years, scholars have been increasingly interested in whether various types of digital trace data can be used to make inferences about society. Researchers from computer science and across the social sciences have used data from social media sites, smartphones, and official sources to learn about broad national populations (Barberá 2016; Blevins and Mullen 2015; Chen et al. 2015; Conover et al. 2012; Culotta, Kumar, and Cutler 2015; Golbeck and Hansen 2011; Lampos, Preoţiuc‐Pietro, and Cohn 2013; Mahmud, Nichols, and Drews ...