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Title: News and Geolocated Social Media Accurately Measure Protest Size Variation
Larger protests are more likely to lead to policy changes than small ones are, but whether or not attendance estimates provided in news or generated from social media are biased is an open question. This letter closes the question: news and geolocated social media data generate accurate estimates of protest size variation. This claim is substantiated using cellphone location data from more than 10 million individuals during the 2017 United States Women’s March protests. These cellphone estimates correlate strongly with those provided in news media as well as three size estimates generated using geolocated tweets, one text-based and two based on images. Inferences about protest attendance from these estimates match others’ findings about the Women’s March.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1831848
PAR ID:
10299070
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
American Political Science Review
Volume:
114
Issue:
4
ISSN:
0003-0554
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1343 to 1351
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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