Influential Users in the Common Core and Black Lives Matter Social Media Conversation

Zhanna Terechshenko, Sean Kates, Fridolin Linder, Joshua A. Tucker, Richard Bonneau, Mona Vakilifathi, Jonathan Nagler
Center for Social Media and Politics

This Data Report aims to map the pathways leading to issue politicization through identifying influential users within politically contentious topics on Twitter, using the online discussion over the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. We find that politically motivated popular users are the most influential users in both CCSS and BLM online conversations.