Three Categories of News: Bread and Butter Issues, Major Headlines, and Third Strand Stories
There’s no shortage of news vying for our attention this year. There are several events politically, economically and in healthcare that have influenced the topics of conversations people are having on social media. Tweets about President Trump and Joe Biden from January through April show a mix of three categories: bread and butter issues, major headlines, and third strand stories. Bread and butter issues are topics that affect people’s everyday lives, such as healthcare and economic security. Major headlines are those big stories that capture and hold significant amounts of attention rapidly after breaking into the news. Third strand stories do not reach the prominence of the major stories rapidly, but they could linger over time with an ebb and flow of attention and impact. Read more about these definitions here.
As an example, people regularly Tweet about the two candidates in the context of bread and butter issues, most notably Jobs, Tax Cuts, Social Security, Healthcare and Taxes. Some major headlines during this time frame were about Tests, Personal Protective Equipment and Ventilators in March and Michael Flynn in April. Our analysis of Tweets shows that conversations about the candidates did not stop with these two categories. They also included a third strand of issues that weren’t at the top of the news agenda when people started talking about them. For example, in January, during the Senate’s impeachment trial, people were Tweeting about Lev Parnas and Ukraine. This attention declined soon thereafter. February saw people talking about Trump’s visit to the Daytona track, and Tara Reade’s allegations against Biden elicited substantial attention on social media in late March and April.
Our analysis shows that people are talking about issues before they become major headlines and the volume of Tweets is large enough, such that these stories are captured as topics in their own right.
Most topics being discussed on Twitter fell into the categories of bread and butter issues and major headlines. But we also observed how other topics and events can break through the two categories and garner attention. Our analysis shows that people are talking about issues before they become major headlines and the volume of Tweets is large enough, such that these stories are captured as topics in their own right. It’s possible that third strand stories will die out quickly, like the Parnas/Ukraine example. Whether third strand stories in this period, like the Biden allegation, eventually become major headlines that could affect election outcomes, is an open question.
Currently, our topic models cover Tweets from the first four months of 2020. We will be updating our analysis in real-time to track the constellation of issues, concerns, events, and scandals garnering the most attention on social media. We will continue our analysis and update our reports regularly to track these topics and any new third strand stories, going beyond Twitter to analyze and compare conversations on other social media and online platforms. Read more about the methodology behind this report here.
Student team members who contributed to this report include Ben Garski, and Jacob Beihoff.