In this chapter, we will see how to acquire data from Twitter, exploring the fundamental elements of interaction such as retweets, likes, and trending topics. Initially, we introduce the Twitter API with Python. Then we will distinguish the basic elements of the Twython library and the use of OAuth as an authentication process. Finally, we will perform data acquisition in real time, applying data streaming.
In this chapter, we will cover:
The anatomy of Twitter data
Using OAuth to access the Twitter API
Getting started with Twython
Streaming API
With the proliferation of social network sites, we can see what people are talking about in real time and on a large scale. However, we need to be cautious because social networks tend to be noisy; that is why in this case we will need as much data as we can get in order to obtain a true representation of what people think.
Mining Twitter is one of the best ways to find out what people are talking about. Social...