Web Statistics Rep. Weiner's Twitter Use Shows Pattern of Behavior - OhMyGov News

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Rep. Weiner's Twitter Use Shows Pattern of Behavior

Some of his online favorites...

By Andrew B. Einhorn Jun 08 2011, 07:12 AM

As calls emerge for a House Ethics Committee investigation into Representative Anthony Weiner's behavior, OhMyGov examined whether the Congressman used computers or government devices, or tweeted graphic photos during working hours. What emerged is a clear pattern of Weiner tweeting casually during non-business hours and to young women.

In our analysis, OhMyGov found that while the Congressman spent the majority of his tweeting time during the weekdays, he continued to tweet a fair amount on the weekends, potentially exposing himself to the type of casual behavior that led to his June 6th admission of guilt.

Between November 2010 through March 2011, tweets were mostly sent from the Twitter website (64%) and from the Congressman's Blackberry (33%). One percent of tweets were sent via Yfrog,Tweedeck, and Twitter buttons, respectively.

Digging deeper, we found that the Congressman also had a habit of sending late night tweets from his Twitter account. Although the majority of tweets were sent out during the day, 18% of tweets were sent after 7pm at night, including the infamous tweet to @gennettenicole containing a picture of Rep. Weiner's crotch, which went out at 23:31 (11:31pm).

 

From April 1, 2010 onward, where Tweetdeck was used to send 46% of tweets. Rep. Weiner used his Blackberry to send tweets 24% of the time and sent 29% of tweets directly through Twitter. Very few times did the Congressman use Yfrog, or if he did, those messages were not available for public consumption.

OhMyGov also looked at who Rep. Weiner was sending tweets to most often. Because of the large volume of tweets sent out, we are only able to examine those receiving tweets from the Congressman most frequently. Some of his online favorites are listed below.

 

The full list may be found inside the report, embedded below.

During the course of the news cycle, public support for Weiner waxed and waned, depending upon the information being released. The graph shows trends in the Congressman's support on Facebook and Twitter. Each plot represents the net number of new Facebook fans and Twitter followers added to Rep. Weiner's social media accounts daily.  The pattern shows how the public reacted to various news threads. As the public became convinced of his innocence and the likelihood that his account was indeed hacked, users of social media flocked to support Rep. Weiner on social media properties. But as the interviews continued and journalists pushed for answers, there was a steep drop in support, showing that the public was also becoming skeptical that Rep. Weiner was telling the truth.

 

Source: OhMyGov Media Monitoring

When the news finally broke that Weiner admitted sending pictures over the Web, there was a small pop in public support by those moved by his apologetic speech, and those who were convinced he was still trustworthy enough to perform his duties in office.

Rep. Weiner Media Analysis

 

Read More: U.S. Congress, Twitter, What The Gov

 
 
 
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COMMENT

Amanda
June 8, 2011 9:27 AM

Great job on the visuals, really bring the story together.  Thanks!  

In general I don't care about Weiner or his wiener flash pics but lying IS something I have an issue with.  

Jeff
June 8, 2011 7:30 PM

Is it accurate to say that the increased Twitter and FB fans and followers show support for the Congressman, rather than standard morbid curiosity akin to slowing down to stare at a car wreck?

 

          


 

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