Innovation and communication of companies on Twitter before and during COVID-19 crisis
Working Paper CNR-Ircres 08/2020
Innovation and communication of companies on Twitter before and during COVID-19 crisis
José N. Franco-Riquelmea, Antonio Zinillib, Joaquín B. Ordieres-Meréa and Emanuela Realeb
a Department of Industrial Engineering, Business Administration and Statistics, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28006, Madrid, Spain
b Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth (IRCRES), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), 00185, Roma RM, Italy
corresponding author/s: j.franco.riquelme@upm.es
Abstract
We address the diffusion of information about the innovation before and during COVID-19 emergency with extensive data analysis on Twitter. We examine Italian and Spanish companies engaged in ICT, automotive, and pharmaceutical fields to understand how the message on innovation has changed. Furthermore, we observe the evolution of the discourse on a global scale, also considering the feedback of their users’ retweets, likes, etc. We used web scraping approaches to retrieve the information on the platform, and we analysed the data through text mining, and complex system approaches. Making the period between the year 2019 – previously the outbreak – and during COVID-19 pandemic as balanced as possible, we extrapolated the data from December 31, 2019, to May 4, 2020. In this work, we provide an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of communication in a time window in which narratives and moods in social media due to COVID-19 have emerged and spread. In this work, we also performed a comparative analysis of messages (in three different languages: Italian, Spanish, and English) elaborated by companies localised in Spain and Italy.
Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, pandemic crisis, innovation, text mining, Twitter.
JEL codes: F23, M00
DOI: 10.23760/2421-7158.2020.008
How to Cite this Article
Franco-Riquelme JN, Zinilli A., Ordieres-Meré J., & Reale E. (2020). Innovation and communication of companies on Twitter before and during COVID-19 crisis (CNR-IRCrES Working Paper 8/2020). Istituto di Ricerca sulla Crescita Economica Sostenibile. Disponibile da http://dx.doi.org/10.23760/2421-7158.2020.008