The growth of #FLwebsci use on Twitter
A few weeks ago now, I posted about a visualisation I had made about the network of users on Twitter who were using the hashtag #FLwebsci. Today, I have made an updated visualisation to reflect the use of this tag and how it is developing:
A much larger (5MB) version of this image is available by clicking on the picture which will allow you to zoom in further to see the labels.
The first thing that is immediately noticeable from this is the increased size of the overall network. The use of the hashtag is clearly spreading – more and more people are tweeting with it as the MOOC progresses. Additionally, there appears to be a larger, closer cluster of users in the centre of the graph, comprising of the highest indegree users (those who are mentioned the most in tweets with #FLwebsci) and some high outdegree users (those using #FLwebsci in tweets the most). Lisa Harris, for example, has become more closely embedded in this central network, perhaps reflecting that the users she has been contacting are now interacting more with other central accounts relating to the MOOC.
The other big change is the introduction of the official @UoSFLwebsci account that has increased rapidly in ‘importance’ in the network, ranking as one of three most active tweeting accounts, and growing in size to show that people are mentioning it when using the hashtag.
If you are interested in how I made this visualisation, the process is the same as the original diagram, which is detailed here.