[Article] Refugee Crisis in Europe: A Mapping of Conversations on Twitter

The agenda-setting power of mainstream media on Twitter is considerable, at least from the perspective of refugee-related conversations in Europe.

Abstract

In a modern hybrid media system, mainstream media extend their presence on Online Social Networks (OSNs) and compete with political and civil society organizations, public figures, and other influential digital storytelling individuals. This article examines where the agenda-setting power resides on Twitter, one of the commonly used OSNs, regarding the conversations and coverage of the refugee crisis in Europe in 2014 and 2015. We use Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to uncover a complex network of hashtags on Twitter formed in response to the coverage of and opinion formation on the refugee crisis in Europe. On of our significant findings is that the conversations are mostly from individuals in volume, but we find traditional news media at the core of the network. The agenda-setting power of mainstream media on Twitter is considerable, at least from the perspective of refugee-related conversations in Europe.

Keywords: Refugee crisis, Europe, Twitter

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Marine Leroi (CIRANO) for her help. They remain solely responsible for any omission or mistake.