E-petition Information Diffusion in Online Social Networks

Abstract

Electronic petitions are a ubiquitous form of online political action directed at governments. Using a wide range of electronic petitioning platforms, individuals can request specific actions of their own government or governments of other countries, and gather support for their requests through the accumulation of signatures from supporters. While the vast majority of electronic petitions fail to attract much support, some petitions become extremely popular. In this study we examine a popular electronic petition (e-petition) to better understand why it was so successful and how e-petition information is diffused into online social networks. We measure success in terms of the number of signatures a given e-petition garners. We chose an e-petition that was created on Change.org that was the 3rd highest in signature accumulation to date. Created on May 1, 2014 by a young Nigerian girl in response to the kidnapping of over 200 school girls in Chibok, Nigera by the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram,_the e-petition gained international attention through traditional and social media channels. Using signature data from Change.org and Twitter data we use social network analysis techniques and time series analysis to explore the anatomy of a successful e-petition.