Analysis of Twitter sentiment for Zuma’s SONA2013 speech

In the previous post we indicated that President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address started with a negative Twitter sentiment, bur ended with a positive sentiment. In this post we share results of my analysis that explain the reason for sentiment upswing, using Twitter timeline associated with the speech.

SONA2013 SENTIMENT ANALYSIS: as at 20H13

SONA 2013: Total Sentiment at 20H11 — Twitter Sentiment at 20H13 *(source: Twendz)*

Negative sentiment was dominant in the earlier part of JZ’s speech, as depicted by RED bars in the image below. Here are the keywords from the speech that contributed to the negative sentiment:

<img src="SONA_2013_Keywords_for_Sentiment_20H12.png" alt="SONA 2013 Keywords for Sentiment - 20H12"> — SONA2013 Twitter Sentiment – Keywords (*Source: Twendz*)

As could be expected, recent incidents in South Africa weighed heavily on social netizens’ minds – including rape and brutal murder of Anene Booysen, and what has come to be known as Nkandla gate, relating to over R200 million spent on “security upgrades” at the President’s homestead – as they were listening to JZ’s promises about how these scourges are going to be addressed.

The following words were frequently tweeted/retweeted at this stage of the speech:

<img src="SONA_2013_Word_Frequency_Analysis_20H13.png" alt="SONA 2013 Word Frequency Analysis as at 20H13"> — Words frequently tweeted/retweeted *(Source: Twendz)*

SONA2013 SENTIMENT ANALYSIS: as at 20H23

<img src="SONA_2013_Twitter_Sentiment_20H23.png" alt="SONA 2013 Twitter Sentiment as at 20H23"> — Twitter Sentiment as at 20H23

Around this time, the President mixed a bit of Zulu in his speech,

… and he also commended former President Mbeki on the sterling work done on the African peace mission in Sudan.

This earned him browny sentiment points.

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS: as at 20H28

<img src="SONA_2013_Twitter_Sentiment_20H28.png" alt="SONA 2013 Twitter Sentiment as at 20H28"> — Twitter Sentiment as at 20H28

Positive sentiment kept rising, despite the President’s introduction of the subject of jobs that got the Democratic Alliance hot under the colour…

…and put them on the Sentiment chart.

<img src="SONA_2013_Sentiment_Keywords_20H28.png" alt="SONA 2013 Sentiment - Keywords as at 20H28"> — SONA2013 Twitter Sentiment – Keywords as at 20H28

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS: as at 20H30

<img src="SONA_2013_Twitter_Sentiment_20H29.png" alt="SONA 2013 Twitter Sentiment as at 20H29"> — Twitter Sentiment as at 20H30

The President’s mention of BRICS did not have much impact on positive sentiment, as he was now getting ready to wrap up his SONA2013 speech.

<img src="SONA_2013_Sentiment_Keywords_20H29.png" alt="SONA 2013 Sentiment - Keywords as at 20H29"> — SONA2013 Twitter Sentiment – Keywords as at 20H30

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS: as at 20H37

<img src="SONA_2013_Twitter_Sentiment_20H37.png" alt="SONA2013 Twitter Sentiment - as at 20H37"> — Twitter Sentiment as at 20H37

By the time the President concluded his speech, the mood was firmly positive. As SONA2013 happened on February 14th, it was only proper that he ends it by wishing all South Africans a happy Valentine’s Day. Twitterers picked up on this love-ly note

<img src="SONA_2013_Keywords_for_Sentiment_20H37.png" alt="SONA 2013 Keywords for Sentiment - 20H37"> — SONA2013 Twitter Sentiment – Keywords as at 20H37

… and frequently tweeted/retweeted it:

<img src="SONA_2013_Word_Frequency_Analysis_20H37.png" alt="SONA 2013 - Word Frequency Analysis as at 20H37"> — Frequently tweeted/retweeted words as at 20H37

Khaya Dlanga (@khayadlanga) kept popping up in SONA2013 Word Clouds because he had the most fun of all other Twitterers, topping even the news agencies and the opposition party, the DA.