hashtag-network

Collection of Python script that retreive tweets about a particular hashtag and builds a network

There are two scripts:

• download_tweets.py is used to download tweets that contain a specific hashtag/user. It is also possible to select a time range; however the Twitter API limits the free usage to only 7 days.
• networkify.py is used to convert the downloaded tweets into a network (several formats are planned, mainly Cytoscape and Gephi formats). It is possible to make:
  • a hashtag network: the edges between two hashtags represent the number of tweets that contain both hashtags
  • a user/mention network: the edges between two users/mentions represent the number of tweets that contain or that are written by both users/mentions
  • a bipartite network: hashtags and users are connected, the edges between them represent the number of tweets that contain both

This program is case isensitive.

Usage

Download tweets

python download_tweets.py --hashtag "JOBIM2018" "darkjobim" --json jobim_tweets.json --log jobim_tweets.log --since 2018-07-03 --until 2018-07-06

This will create a JSON file with all the tweets, along with a quick log file containing some statistics.

Generate the network and attributes

• Cytoscape format:
  • Hashtag network: python networkify.py --json jobim_tweets.json --format cytoscape --output jobim_tweets_hashtags.net --type hashtags
  • Users/mentions network: python networkify.py --json jobim_tweets.json --format cytoscape --output jobim_tweets_users.net --type mentions
  • Bipartite network: python networkify.py --json jobim_tweets.json --format cytoscape --output jobim_tweets_bipartite.net --type bipartite
  • Node attributes: python networkify.py --json jobim_tweets.json --format cytoscape --output jobim_tweets.attr --type attributes
• Gephi format (network file contains the attributes already):
  • Hashtag network: python networkify.py --json jobim_tweets.json --format cytoscape --output jobim_tweets_hashtags.gdf --type hashtags --format gephi
  • Users/mentions network: python networkify.py --json jobim_tweets.json --format cytoscape --output jobim_tweets_users.gdf --type mentions --format gephi
  • Bipartite network: python networkify.py --json jobim_tweets.json --format cytoscape --output jobim_tweets_bipartite.gdf --type bipartite --format gephi