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Twitter analytics to understand public opinion and political debate in ecuador: Case #RafaelContigoSiempre y #FueraParaSiempre

Abstract:

The debate on Twitter about the continuity of the Presidency of Rafael Correa, in Ecuador is analyzed. Two reactions were studied: The promotion of reelection (#RafaelContigoSiempre); and the opposition against a new presidency (#FueraParaSiempre). The data, 3328 unique tweets, were collected with Twitter Archiver; its analysis was done with descriptive statistics measures with Rapid Minner and Excel. The results showed a high interaction, evidenced in retweets by tag. The contents showed high political polarization and the use of an offensive language towards the president. The president’s supporters highlighted the government’s work while the adversaries emphasized corruption cases. On the senders, the official accounts in #RafaelContigoSiempre and the citizens in #FueraParaSiempre predominated, which could mean a lack of popular support for a third Correa´s presidency. It was found that, 16 of the most active accounts in the discussion of this issue, were suspended for complaints on Twitter.