Using Social Media for Global Security

Chapter 12

Advanced and Emerging Analytical Methodologies

So far we have covered only a few methodologies for analyzing social media and related data. Numerous other methodologies exist, many of which are complex and only now starting to be modified for and applied to social media data. This chapter briefly reviews a few advanced and emerging analytical methodologies you may come across and eventually need in your work. It first introduces and then describes the three methodologies of cluster analysis, geo-spatial network analysis, and agent modeling.

Expanding the Scope of Analysis

You can analyze social media and related data using a variety of analytical methodologies. Some are readily applicable to social media data and thus are used by analysts today—we covered some of them in Chapters 5 and 6. Many more methodologies exist and they differ in their applicability and relevance. Some of these methodologies tend to be harder to use because they are complex or require more advanced technical training. Some also require the type and size of data that is only now becoming available. Undoubtedly, as more people start to analyze social media data, the variety and number of relevant and applicable analytical methodologies will grow.

In this chapter, we briefly review three advanced and emerging analytical methodologies that are becoming increasingly applicable and relevant for analyzing or using social media data. Analysts have been using the three methodologies for quite some time ...