AttitudeBuzz: Using social media data to localize complex attitudes

AttitudeBuzz is a system that analyzes and presents complex social attitudes based on geolocated social media data. The system uses a machine learning model to apply highly domain-specific sentiment analysis to such data, specifically Twitter, by learning modulators around a configurable lexicon central to the domain of inquiry. Training data are acquired from geographical areas where a specific attitude or opinion is known to dominate. We apply AttitudeBuzz to the domain of homophobic attitudes expressed on Twitter. The resulting user interface is presented and the machine learning model described and analyzed.