I am very excited to be undertaking a whole new line of research into political fear. Inspired by my work with Glen Szczypka and the Health Media Collaboratory, I had this proposal accepted for the October 30, 2012 Sentiment Analysis Symposium.
Title: Fear and Loathing on the Social Campaign Trail
Abstract: What are voters afraid of on the eve of the 2012 election? Fear is one of the most freely expressed forms of sentiment in social media. This “Voice of the Voter” presentation looks social data collected in the final week of October and speaks to the nature and salience of fear among the electorate. Bridging political and computational science, Dr. Shulman will present a frightening array of scenarios predicted in the Tweets and Facebook updates as the final phase of the campaign transpires.
Be afraid. Be very politically afraid. Then, please join millions of others already scared out of their wits and express yourself on social media about the approaching election. Results to be posted here October 30th, 2012.