{"id":17767,"date":"2023-03-27T17:00:51","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T21:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=17767"},"modified":"2024-08-12T11:13:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T15:13:09","slug":"twitter-and-red-tides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/twitter-and-red-tides\/","title":{"rendered":"Science and Social Media: Twitter and Red Tides"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Red Tides occur when there is an overgrowth of Algae in coastal waters that depletes oxygen levels and releases toxins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The condition turns the water a reddish-brown and can be harmful to human health and sea life. In particular, red tides can kill fish and make shellfish dangerous to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tracking the reach of a red tide event helps state and local governments respond quickly and accurately to an outbreak. After the extreme red tide outbreak in Florida from 2017 to 2019, researchers wanted to find out if social media posts could provide a timely and accurate real-time roadmap of such an event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During hurricanes and other natural disasters, people often turn to social media to share their observations and experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andrey Skripnikov at the New College of Florida and his colleagues analyzed Twitter messages for this study. Tweets are limited in length and easy to \u201cretweet\u201d to others, which can increase the original tweets\u2019 reach beyond one person\u2019s network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The researchers looked at over 18,000 tweets originating from five counties of interest in southwestern Florida from May 2018 to May 2019 and determined whether the tweets referenced a red tide. They also evaluated whether the tweets used strong or extreme language (like \u201cbad\u201d or \u201cdisgusting\u201d) to describe the tides. Then, they compared the number of tweets in a geographic location to the scientific counts of algae in the local area.<\/p>\n\n\n