Twitter rolls out Oscars index

17 Jan 2013

Microblogging site Twitter has launched an Oscars index, a Twitter page that tracks and measures all the buzz surrounding six categories in the 85th Academy Awards that honour the best in film.

The Twitter Oscars Index measures how Twitter users refer to nominees in the best picture, director, best actor, best supporting actor, best actress, and best supporting actress categories relative to the overall conversation taking place on any given day.

“For example, if a nominee has an Index of 80, comments about that nominee are more positive than roughly 80pc of all the other terms on Twitter,” the Twitter Oscars Index page reads.  

“This display of sentiment is used to track the Oscar race through the public conversation around the nominees, adding an extra dimension to the dialogue around the Academy Awards.”

The index uses data from real-time tweets from around the world, and even includes an awards calendar and Oscar-related tweets.

The Oscars will be handed out on 24 February in Los Angeles.

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com