Social Media Roundup: Climate Takes Over the Public’s Attention but, So Far, at a Much Lower Level

This figure presents twitter traffic for #COP21 (the hashtag for the climate talks that officially began on 30 November 2015) and any tweets with the terms "terrorism" or "climate" from 31 October to 30 November 2015.    Conversations about terrorism peaked around the attacks in Paris and have since gone down, but not to pre-attack levels.  Climate change has gained substantial attention leading up to the negotiations. So far, however, coverage does not come close to the terrorism peak after the attacks. Twitter traffic is likely to continue to focus on climate as heads of state address the Parties in Paris.  
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--Dana R. Fisher, drfisher@umd.edu