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In my research of large Twitter data sets, I have been regularly studying trending topics. Most of the time, trending topics encourage monologic behavior on Twitter. For example, see the relatively monologic network graph below of #ThreeWordsSheWantsToHear (a hashtag which warrants serious  critical, dialogic engagement of gender issues).

#ThreeWordsSheWantsToHear Network Graph

I have been investigating the #accidentalracist hashtag from this past Monday (April 8, 2013). The hashtag formed in response to the new Brad Paisley and LL Cool J song titled ‘Accidental Racist’ (video below).

The Huffington Post labeled the song ‘a controversial one, to say the least’ and features the singer donning a Confederate flag. Forbes observed that the song set ‘off a firestorm on social media’.

Given the controversial nature of this hashtag, I was curious whether the tag was encouraging monologic or more dialogic behavior. It turns out that the 1504 tweets I sampled (from 9:56 p.m. to 11:18 p.m. UTC on April 8, 2013) actually exhibited far more interaction than one would expect in a trending topic-based network. Take a look at the social network analysis map below and let me know your thoughts!

#accidentalracist social network map

#accidentalracist social network map

 

And, as @sociographie, mentioned in a Twitter chat we had, it is important not to solely prioritize relationships in a network graph of trending topics. That is why I have retained isolates. Below, you can also find some aggregate information on the tweets.

Top URLs in Tweet in Entire Graph Entire Graph Count
http://thehairpin.com/2013/04/accidental-racist 28
http://bit.ly/10B2ZPs 21
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/04/brad-paisley-and-ll-cool-j-show-how-not-to-sing-about-the-confederate-flag/274799/ 17
http://ow.ly/jS1zt 10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC6Ev5o5r7Y 5
http://mashable.com/2013/04/08/brad-paisley-accidental-racist/ 4
http://jezebel.com/brad-paisleys-accidental-racist-song-is-terrible-ho-471297837 3
http://rapgenius.com/Brad-paisley-accidental-racist-lyrics 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvgCvT9xX7A 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_qbt1EVuw8 2
Top Domains in Tweet in Entire Graph Entire Graph Count
thehairpin.com 28
bit.ly 27
youtube.com 23
theatlantic.com 17
ow.ly 13
youtu.be 10
j.mp 4
mashable.com 4
tinyurl.com 4
jezebel.com 3
Top Hashtags in Tweet in Entire Graph Entire Graph Count
accidentalracist 1493
llcoolj 26
bradpaisley 23
intentionalbeatdown 17
thewalkingdead 7
negrobush 5
occupy 5
ows 5
oppression 5
llcooljoke 4