Table 2 A glossary of Twitter-related terms

Engagement

The number of times a tweet is liked and retweeted.

Follower

A Twitter user who subscribes to the Tweets (i.e. posts) of another Twitter user.

Hashtag (#)

A word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#) used on social media to identify a specific theme or topic.

Influencer

An individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience (Talkwalker’s definition).

Like

When a Twitter user acknowledges another user’s tweet (i.e. post).

Mention

Any Twitter activity that contains the search terms (Tweets, retweets, likes etc.)

Potential Reach

The number of potential followers (i.e. subscribers) reached by the Tweet.

Retweet

When a tweet is retweeted (re-posted) by another Twitter user.

Sentiment Score

Sentiment is an expression of the emotional tone behind the tweet that attempts to summarize the attitudes and opinions being expressed. The sentiment score is an integer value which sums the sentiment values of individual mentions [30].

Tweet

A post on Twitter made by an individual on their own behalf or as a representative of a group/organization.