informatics

Article
Proposal of a Method for the Analysis of Sentiments in Social
Networks with the Use of R
William Villegas-Ch. 1, * , Sofía Molina 1 , Víctor De Janón 1 , Estevan Montalvo 1 and Aracely Mera-Navarrete 2

1 Escuela de Ingeniería en Tecnologías de la Información, FICA, Universidad de Las Américas,

Quito 170125, Ecuador
2 Departamento de Sistemas, Universidad Internacional del Ecuador, Quito 170411, Ecuador
* Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +593-98-136-4068

Abstract: Decision making is vital for the management of all organizations. For this reason, data
analysis has become one of the fastest-growing technologies when it comes to generating information
and knowledge about data generated by organizations. However, data generation is not limited
to traditional sources. On the contrary, emerging technologies and social networks have become
non-traditional sources that provide large volumes of data that can be exploited using different data
analysis methods. Here, the objective is to determine the feelings of the population toward a brand, a
product, or a service and to even identify the reactions of people to events and trends generated in
their environment. Sentiment analysis, for organizations and social groups, has become a necessity
that must be covered to identify the acceptance of an idea or its management. Therefore, this work
proposes a method for the analysis of sentiment in social networks in such a way that it adapts to the
needs of organizations or sectors, and the acceptance or rejection of the population can be efficiently
identified from what is exposed in a social network.
Citation: Villegas-Ch., W.; Molina, S.;
Janón, V.D.; Montalvo, E.; Keywords: analysis of data; social networks; sentiment analysis
Mera-Navarrete, A. Proposal of a
Method for the Analysis of
Sentiments in Social Networks with
the Use of R. Informatics 2022, 9, 63.
1. Introduction
https://doi.org/10.3390/
informatics9030063
Recently, social networks have become sources of a large volume of data. These data
reveal the feelings of a population on a specific topic or on a trend that sparks the interest
Academic Editors: Jiang Bian, of society. It is for this reason that many companies or organizations have some interest in
Lorraine Goeuriot, Gabriella Pasi and
generating knowledge about data from social networks [1]. This strategy, also known as
Marco Viviani
sentiment analysis, has the primary objective of identifying trends in user opinions, as well
Received: 28 July 2022 as evaluating their emotions, studying their behavior, and determining existing attitudes
Accepted: 16 August 2022 based on their reactions. Sentiment analysis in organizations highlights the importance
Published: 24 August 2022 of data analysis in obtaining a competitive advantage in different market sectors [2]. By
collecting direct information on users’ feelings about a product, a brand, or a service, it is
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
possible to generate strategies for the decision making and positioning of the organization.
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
The interest in sentiment analysis is not new, and different organizations aiming to
published maps and institutional affil-
iations.
capture the sentiment of users have made multiple comparisons using traditional data
sources, such as surveys, interviews, or forms. These instruments are applied to an objective
population of consumers, especially users of the brand, product, or service [3]. Recently,
the methodology has changed, and what is sought is to take advantage of the digital
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. footprint that people leave on social networks with the use of an Internet connection. This
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. process has allowed the evolution of techniques to identify the feelings of users, and new
This article is an open access article tools are applied that allow capturing the feelings of people in an agile, timely manner
distributed under the terms and with existing data in a social network [4]. Another factor that determines the importance
conditions of the Creative Commons of sentiment analysis today is cost reduction since traditional methods and instruments
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// require considerable investments that must be incurred by organizations if they wish to
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ acquire the opinions of their clients or a population of interest. On the other hand, current
4.0/).

Informatics 2022, 9, 63. https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics9030063 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/informatics

Informatics 2022, 9, 63 2 of 16

techniques allow establishing processes at a low cost, considering that the information
already exists in social networks.
According to the works reviewed, it is established that sentiment analysis is part of the
development of digital culture, currently being the most used communication tool between
society and organizations. However, its penetration is not limited to organizations, since
the opinions and sentiments expressed by users can go further and represent the opinion
of the population toward a government or its policies [5,6]. For data processing, a group of
the works reviewed started from an algorithm methodology based on supervised learning.
This methodology facilitates the calculation of the semantic orientation of the texts, which
reveals the polarity of the terms in the text, and in this way, a positive or negative semantic
orientation is generated.
Another group of works is focused on the application of opinion mining techniques
that seek to identify trends in the data of a social network. These trends can be analyzed in
past, present, and future periods with the data available in social networks [7]. The analysis
process is mainly focused on the evolution of multiple techniques and tools that encompass
the extraction of opinions from keywords to develop concepts. In addition, there is another
group of works that evaluate the opinions of users through natural language processing
techniques with the use of polarity and syntactic dependency dictionaries that apply rules
based on the semantics of the texts.
Regarding the programming languages used for sentiment analysis, several of the
reviewed works carried out an in-depth analysis of different options. Among these, R
stands out as an ideal language for data analysis in general. R enables sentiment analysis
in a very broad ecosystem, which is why it is among the most widely used languages
in scientific applications [8]. The R programming language has a wide range of libraries
that enable comprehensive statistical analysis. In addition, it is important to consider that
R is open-source software, which is presented as a competitive advantage for its use in
data analysis.
The R libraries used in this proposal are packages that allow a sentiment analysis
that guarantees the results. One of the most important libraries in parsing is tidytext; this
library contains the necessary tools for text manipulation. Among the features of tidytext is
that it helps convert freeform text into a neat table, which makes it easy to visualize data
and use statistical techniques. Information in an ordered text format makes it easy to apply
filters, calculate sums, and generate plots. To do this, one of the functions that are of great
value when using tidytext is unnest_tokens(), which allows one to automate the process of
tokenization and storage in the preferred format in a single step.
The use of the tidytext library and its importance are expanded upon in the method
in [9]. However, for the complementation and validation of the use of different libraries,
it is important to highlight that other reviewed works refer to the fact that the packages
available in R are created to cover different needs in sentiment analysis. For this reason, it
is important to highlight that libraries such as SentimentAnalysis, sentimentr, and syuzhet
were excluded from the proposed method when it was verified that, in the case of Sen-
timentAnalysis, it does not accept languages other than English; this work was carried
out in a Spanish-speaking country, so using this library would be a disadvantage. The
sentometrics library studies time series of text data and can extend the polarity scoring
function to handle complicated linguistic edge cases; therefore, its processing is slower than
other libraries that do not attempt this functionality. This is the case for tidytext, which
does not have an explicit sentiment calculation function, but its toolset can be used to create
one. The main reason for discarding the mentioned libraries is that none of them, including
syuzhet, explicitly document the procedures that are applied with algorithms and formulas.
Therefore, the results of the analysis are not interpretable from the perspective of this work.
This means that there is no transparency in the definition of the methodology, even when it
is possible to see the original code.
In addition to these libraries, similar works made use of the FiGASR package, which
allows taking advantage of natural language processing (NLP) techniques to easily perform
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 3 of 16

sentiment analysis. This package is a wrapper for the SentiBigNomics Python package;
given a list of texts as input and a list of tokens of interest (ToI), the algorithm parses the
texts and calculates the sentiment associated with each ToI. Two key features characterize
this approach. First, it is fine-grained, as words are assigned a polarity score ranging from
[−1,1] according to a dictionary. Second, the algorithm selects the piece of text that relates to
the ToI based on a set of semantic rules and calculates sentiment from that text only, rather
than the entire dataset. The package includes some additional features, such as automatic
negation handling, verb tense detection, location filtering, and the exclusion of some words
from the sentiment calculation. However, FiGASR only supports the English language, as
it is based on the Python version 3.10.4 module’s en_core_web_lgspaCy language model. It
is for this reason that its use is ruled out in our proposal.
As success stories, several works highlighted the importance of sentiment analysis
in advertising campaigns, as well as in political campaigns. These campaigns, by using
information from social networks effectively, have managed to create marketing strategies
that have led to the triumph of ideas or political candidates, such as the case of former
United States President Barack Obama, whose team gave great importance to the use of
data mining [10,11]. This technique can detect opinions expressed on social networks,
which facilitates the execution of an emotional effect analysis of speeches, considerably
improving the acceptance of ideas in the population.
Sentiment analysis is considered a competitive advantage among organizations. How-
ever, its application in certain sectors has not had the expected penetration. The factors that
determine the use of sentiment analysis are varied; among the main ones is the lack of tech-
nical training on the application of a model that allows the extraction, transformation, and
analysis of data. Another factor is the lack of marketing resources that allow establishing
processes that improve decision making through the feelings and trends exposed on social
networks by the organization’s clients or its target population [12]. This work presents
a method for sentiment analysis in a social network that can be used by medium-sized
companies that seek to identify the sentiment of their customers regarding the products,
brands, or services they offer. To evaluate the proposed method, its application was tested
in a marketing environment to identify the sentiment of the population on political trends
in the country where this work was carried out [13].

2. Materials and Methods

To describe the development of the method, it is necessary to cover several concepts
that make up the operating basis of the proposal. In addition, it is important to establish
the prerequisites, as well as the necessary tools, for the implementation of a scalable and
adaptable sentiment analysis method.

2.1. Identification of Requirements

The requirement that is considered most relevant in this proposal is the handling
of data from non-traditional sources since the datasets are extracted directly from social
networks. The validity of these sources lies mainly in the veracity of the data compared
to data obtained from instruments such as surveys. In these instruments, the design
and subsequent analysis are important in determining the validity of the survey and the
incidence values of each question to respond to a phenomenon [14]. On the other hand, in a
social network environment, it is important to establish which platforms are the most used
by the target population. This segmentation is important considering the great penetration
of social networks in society. According to data identified in similar works, 4.62 million
people in the world use social networks, which represents an annual growth rate of 12%
since 2012. In 2021, the use of social networks grew at an average rate of 13.5 new users per
second. In addition, worldwide, it has been estimated that people spend an average of 2 h
27 min a day on social networks. These data are important in establishing social networks
as a current data source, with a high importance index for identifying trends and patterns
in users [15].
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 4 of 16

There are other important data to consider in social networks, such as the statistics on
advertising on these platforms. For example, the projected advertising spending in 2022
could reach more than USD 173 million, this being a primary factor for organizations. For
its part, video advertising spending on social networks will grow this year by 20.1% to
reach the figure of USD 24.35 billion. Next, the most used social networks are presented
according to their specific targets and orientations and the most relevant data [16].
• Instagram:
• It has more than 1.5 billion users;
• Instagram ads reach nearly 30% of internet users;
• Instagram is the fourth most popular social network in the world;
• Users aged 25–34 make up the largest cohort of Instagram users;
• 91% of active users say they watch videos on the platform weekly;
• 50% of users have clicked through to a brand’s website after seeing it in Stories;
• 92% of users say they have acted on the spot after seeing a product on Instagram;
• Ads are more likely to reach men and women ages 18–34.
• Facebook:
• The number of active Facebook users is close to 3 billion people, that is, 36% of the
world’s population;
• 58.8% of Internet users in the world use Facebook every month;
• About 66% of users connect to the site every day;
• 20% of Facebook users in the world are men between the ages of 25–34;
• Women aged 13–17 are the smallest demographic of Facebook users in the world;
• Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world;
• 66% of Facebook users visit a local business page at least once a week;
• In 2021, a third of Facebook users made purchases on the platform;
• Almost 50% of Facebook users also use Twitter.
• Twitter:
• Users spend, on average, 5.1 h per month on Twitter;
• 22% of Americans use Twitter;
• Twitter will have 76.5 million users in Latin America in 2022;
• 38.5% of Twitter users are between 25 and 34 years old;
• Only 6.6% of Twitter users are 13–17;
• Twitter’s audience is predominantly male: 70.4% of the platform’s demographic
identifies with that gender, leaving only a 29.6% female audience on Twitter;
• People spend about 5 h a month browsing Twitter;
• Almost 55% of Twitter users also use TikTok;
• The total number of Twitter users globally is expected to reach 340 million by 2024;
• People spent 6 min a day on Twitter in 2022;
• 52% of users check Twitter daily, 84% check it weekly, and 96% check it monthly;
• Twitter is the social network most frequently used for the generation of political
comments and content.
• YouTube:
• People spend, on average, 23.7 h a month on YouTube;
• YouTube is the second most used social media platform in the world, with more than
14 billion total views;
• People spend, on average, 19 min a day on YouTube;
• Around 694,000 h of video is streamed on YouTube every minute of the day;
• Mobile users visit twice as many pages on YouTube than desktop users;
• 70% of viewers bought from a brand after seeing it on YouTube;
• Ads targeted to users by intent (and not by demographics) achieved a 100× higher
increase in purchase intent;
• Advertising on YouTube has the potential to reach 2.56 billion users.
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 5 of 16

Among the social networks described, Twitter is the social network selected for the
design of the method. It was selected because this social network is used more frequently to
post relevant content or comments on a topic, turning it into a social network of opinion [17].
This has given way to political groups taking advantage of their potential to transmit
ideas for or against a political idea or a trending issue, for example, education, security,
employment, and unemployment rates. Its characteristic of short comments on a topic
allows for establishing this social network as an optimal data source for the application of
the method [18].
With the use of Twitter, political sectors find a dedicated, digital, and political space,
since, with its use, they can establish spaces for media coverage, where the organization of
social groups is one of their objectives. In addition, the use of this platform can achieve
various objectives, such as suggesting the dissemination of news, images, or links that
show an ideology or political tendency [19]. Once the potential of the social network and
its penetration in the target population have been established, it is important to define the
tools for the implementation of the sentiment analysis model.

2.2. Selection of Tools for Sentiment Analysis

For the selection of tools for the analysis of sentiments in the tweets of the target
population, it is necessary to consider certain parameters, such as costs, technical func-
tionality, statistical tools, etc. In addition, one of the important points is that the method
can be replicated in other areas that need an analytical tool to establish the sentiment of
their customers [20,21]. From this perspective, the preselection of two tools that allow the
download of tweets and the analysis of sentiments was made. These tools are Python
and R Studio, both of which can manage data from non-traditional sources and deliver
meaningful analytical results. Both Python and R have features that allow them to manage
a high component in natural language processing. However, when considering the R
programming language in statistical packages, this tool has greater strength than Python.
This is what makes several researchers in the scientific field prefer the use of R over Python
to perform analytical tasks [22].
Therefore, for the development of this work, R Studio was used as a programming
language tool. In addition, several reviewed works highlight that R is a tool with greater
potential for tasks such as web scraping, data cleaning, and treatment, as well as the
analytics it offers. Once the Twitter dataset was downloaded, it was loaded into a database
that operates as a repository of said information. MySQL Enterprise Edition open-source
version 8.0.29 was used to create the repository. This selection was made due to the
advantages that this engine presents, such as its high speed and good performance and the
low probability of data corruption [23].
In the visualization phase, tools that are used in business intelligence and that are
leaders according to the Gartner quadrant were considered, as presented in Figure 1.
According to the data presented for 2021, in the graph, among the main tools, Microsoft
Power BI, Tableau public 2021.3 and Qlik sense stand out, these tools use the corporate
license of the university that participates in this study in Quito, Ecuador [24–26].
Considering the tools in the Gartner graph, an analysis of the main characteristics of
the three tools found in the leaders’ quadrant was carried out. Table 1 presents a comparison
of the selected platforms.
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 6 of 16
Informatics 2022, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW 6 of 17

Figure 1.
Figure 1. Gartner
Gartner quadrant
quadrantwith
withthethe
visualization toolstools
visualization considered as leaders
considered in 2021.in 2021.
as leaders

Considering the tools in the Gartner graph, an analysis of the main characteristics of
Table 1. Analysis of the leading tools in visualization based on the characteristics necessary in
the three tools found in the leaders’ quadrant was carried out. Table 1 presents a compar-
sentiment analysis.
ison of the selected platforms.
Power BI Tableau Qlik
Table 1. Analysis of the leading tools in visualization based on the characteristics necessary in sen-
timent analysis. Wide range of
Exploring data
analysis workflow Analysis with deep
Focus Power BI Tableau without
Qlikemploying a
capabilities, with a search
long learning
Exploring data curve
highrange
Wide executive levelwork-
of analysis
Connections without employ-
Focus and flow capabilities,
High with a high ex-Lower
Analysis with
than deep search
Power BI
data integration ing a longHigh
learn-
ecutive level
Visualization and ing curve
Improvements to be
Connections and Wide Wide
type of analysis High Lower than Power BI Highmade
data integration Easy to use
Visualization and Includes Python- Improvements
Wide and Wide Simple for users
type of analysis R-based to be madefor prior
Scripting
Intuitive and easy to use. Simple for users
visualizations, data processing
Advantage Support for Python and R Scripting for
includingEasypredictive
to use Less dependency on
with predictive analytics prior data pro-
Includesanalytics
Python- and R-based Intuitive and easy to use. IT for system
cessing
Advantage Low cost, including
visualizations, includes predic- Support for Python and R maintenance
Less depend-
free versions
tive analytics with predictive analytics
ency on IT for
Low cost, includes free versionsIt additionally requires
system mainte-
an ETL (extract,
nance
transform, and load) tool
The project must be uploaded to It additionally requires an
The project must be For advanced users, there Needs a lot of
Disadvantages the cloud to share the visualiza- ETL (extract, transform,
uploaded to the cloud is disapproval of the tool RAM
Disadvantages tions and load) tool Needs a lot of RAM
to share the for advanced and
visualizations sophisticated capabilities,
such as embedded BI,
metadata management,
and data preparation
 management, and data
preparation

According to the most relevant data on the tools, it was identified that they ha
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 similar methodology for use. The three tools offer an intuitive interface7 ofthat 16 favor

construction of data panels in a simple way that enables the interpretation and visua
tion of information. However, with its revised features, the use of Power BI appears t
According to the most relevant data on the tools, it was identified that they have a
best option [27,28]. This tool integrates directly and easily with MySQL and R, whi
similar methodology for use. The three tools offer an intuitive interface that favors the
an advantage
construction of the
of data useinof
panels these way
a simple tools. Inenables
that addition, it provides and
the interpretation dashboard executions
visualization
allow
of interaction
information. with the
However, withend user, and
its revised it canthe
features, modify
use of or obtain
Power dashboards
BI appears to thethat sui
user’s
best needs
option [29,30].
[27,28]. This tool integrates directly and easily with MySQL and R, which is
an advantage of the use of these tools. In addition, it provides dashboard executions that
allow interaction
2.3. Method with the end
for Sentiment user, and
Analysis of itSocial
can modify or obtain dashboards that suit the
Networks
user’s needs [29,30].
For the proposed method, the phases necessary for the extraction of data and
2.3. Methodtransformation,
storage, for Sentiment Analysisandofpresentation
Social Networksof information are taken as a reference. Fi
2 presents the method
For the proposed and its
method, thecomponents,
phases necessary in addition to the tools
for the extraction that
of data andwere
the previo
storage, transformation, and presentation of information are taken
analyzed and selected, guaranteeing the veracity of the results. In the first phase,as a reference. Figure 2 the
presents the method and its components, in addition to the tools that
to access the data is indicated, that is, the tweets; for this, it is necessary to create awere previously
analyzed and selected, guaranteeing the veracity of the results. In the first phase, the
count on the Twitter Developers platform. This is a portal that offers various resourc
need to access the data is indicated, that is, the tweets; for this, it is necessary to create an
peopleon
account andtheorganizations
Twitter Developers thatplatform.
need toThis access
is a data
portal[31]. Resources
that offers variousinclude
resourcestools,
to data,
application
people programming
and organizations interface
that need (API)
to access dataproducts that can
[31]. Resources integrate
include different
tools, data, and solut
Twitter Developers
application programming hasinterface
three main(API)products.
products that Thecan first product
integrate is thesolutions.
different Ads API, whic
Twitter Developers
lows users has three
to create, main products.
manage, The firstad
and schedule product is the Ads
campaigns andAPI,extract
which allows
ad analytics.
users to create, manage, and schedule ad campaigns and extract ad analytics. The second
second product is Twitter for Websites, which allows the integration of content from
product is Twitter for Websites, which allows the integration of content from the social
social network
network in into
in real time realthe
time into the
product product
from the source.fromThethethirdsource.
productThe third
is the product
Twitter API, is the T
ter API,
which waswhich
used inwas
this used
work to in perform
this work to perform
sentiment analysissentiment
[32]. analysis [32].

Figure2.2.Method
Figure Methodfor for
sentiment analysis
sentiment of a social
analysis of anetwork with integration
social network with a database
with integration withand
a database
information visualization tools.
information visualization tools.
The Twitter API used in the sentiment analysis method allows the user to retrieve,
create,The
and Twitter
search forAPI usedelements
different in the sentiment analysis
of tweets, such method
as spaces, users,allows the user to retr
direct messages,
create,media,
trends, and search
places, for
etc. different elements
These elements of tweets,
are crucial such as
in sentiment spaces,
analysis andusers,
become direct
the messa
source
trends,of media,
data thatplaces,
allows usetc.
to identify current trends
These elements areand issues.inAnother
crucial characteristic
sentiment analysisofand bec
the
theAPI is that
source ofits application
data generates
that allows us tothe API Key;
identify this istrends
current necessary
andforissues.
authentication
Another chara
and integration with the developer products of this social network [33]. During the devel-
istic of the API is that its application generates the API Key; this is necessary
opment, it is necessary to specify the title and the description of the application. In this way,
Twitter provides the access keys and identification tokens to access the data and extract
those that are necessary for the analysis. Next, an example of the generation of access keys
generated by the API is presented. For security, the first and last segments of the keys have
been omitted and have been replaced by the letter “X”.
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 8 of 16

• consumerKey<-“XXXXXXXXgEVum0pkpXXXXXXXX”
• consumerSecret<-“XXXXXXXX7oip3jzH5zmaAD2LJ6fw8xpC5MrajfgeXXXXXXXX”
• accessToken<-“XXXXXXXX77787523073-zZUX7Ai9br7mCoCxpCNyPSXXXXXXXX”
• accessSecret<-“XXXXXXXXfVRvMTbUcx2aJyk4whfQYS3coFMhXXXXXXXX”
• option(httr_oauth_cache=TRUE)
• twitter_token<-create_token(consumer_key = consumerkey, consumer_secret = con-
sumerSecret, access_token = accessToken, access_secret = accessSecret)

2.3.1. Downloading of Information

Once authentication has been carried out and the platform assigns the corresponding
access keys, the next phase is to download the information. For this, the Rtweet library
was used, which makes it possible to download the information. In previous works, other
libraries were reviewed that, in theory, fulfill the same objective, which is to download the
necessary information [34,35]. However, when applying the libraries, they do not allow the
complete download of the tweet, directly affecting sentiment analysis [36,37]. In the code
presented below, a “search_tweets()” function is generated, in which specific parameters
are set, such as the date on which the search for tweets will be carried out, for which it
needs the data (from-to). The established period is very important in downloading data,
since, in this way, the importance and optimization of resources such as time and storage of
unnecessary downloads are guaranteed [38]. In the search for tweets, as this is an example,
the search name is set to (XXXXX XXXXX): in this space, the search name must be input,
which, in the results, will take the name of the study characters.
• nt<-500
• until<-Sys.Date()
• since<-“2022-06-05”
• health-1<- search_tweets(“XXXXX XXXXX, health”,n, since = since, until = until)
• economy-1<- search_tweets(“XXXXX XXXXX, economy”,n, since = since, until = until)
• security-1<- search_tweets(“XXXXX XXXXX, security”,n, since = since, until = until)
• education-1<- search_tweets(“XXXXX XXXXX, education”,n, since = since, until = until)

2.3.2. Cleanup of Tweets

The cleaning of tweets is important in the analysis, since, in this phase, the results are
guaranteed. To comply with this process, the “dplyr” library was used, which facilitates
the handling of data files in R Studio and provides a simple grammar for the handling of
verbs [39]. In addition, it can manipulate and operate data frames. The used function of
the dplyr library is gsub; with this function, it is possible to delete mentions, links, emojis,
numbers, and punctuation marks. In the second process, the existing spaces and line breaks
in the tweets are eliminated [40]. In this process, it is necessary to carry out a review of the
elements that make up the tweet in such a way that all elements that do not contribute to
the sentiment analysis are eliminated.
For natural language processing, the “tm” library was used, which allows stop words
or empty words to be eliminated. These correspond to a list of words that include articles,
connectors, pronouns, and prepositions that do not contribute to the identification of the
feeling. An example of the configuration is presented below:
• text <- gsub(“@\\w+”, text)
• text <- gsub(“https?://.+”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(\\d+\\w*\\d*, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“#\\w+”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“[ˆ\x01-\x7F]”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“[[:punct:]]”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“\n”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“ˆ\\s+”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“\\s+$”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“[ |\t]+”, “”, text)
 • text <- gsub(“[^\x01-\x7F]”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“[[:punct:]]”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“\n”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“^\\s+”, ””, text)
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 • text <- gsub(\\s+$”, “”, text) 9 of 16
• text <- gsub(“[ |\t]+”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“[[:cntrl:]]”, “”, text)
• text <- gsub(“[[:cntrl:]]”, “”, text)
2.3.3. Sentiment Analysis
2.3.3.For the analysis
Sentiment of sentiments in the refined information, the tidytext library is used.
Analysis
This For
library has a tokenizing
the analysis of sentimentsfunctionality, which information,
in the refined means that itthe
takes the text
tidytext and converts
library is used.
it into a token format per row through the unnest_tokens function. [41,42].
This library has a tokenizing functionality, which means that it takes the text and A token repre-
converts it
sents a word, a sentence, or a paragraph. The process is represented in Figure
into a token format per row through the unnest_tokens function [41,42]. A token represents 3, and it is
abased
word,on the principle
a sentence, or a of ordered data
paragraph. with theisuse
The process of the dplyr
represented library.
in Figure The itnecessary
3, and is based
argument
on for the
the principle ofuse of thedata
ordered unnet_tokens
with the usefunction is thelibrary.
of the dplyr namesTheof the columns
necessary that are
argument
created
for andofrun-in
the use words [43]. function
the unnet_tokens In the next step,
is the the input
names of thecolumn
columnsisthat
established,
are created that is,
and
the column
run-in wordsfrom which
[43]. In thethenext
clean textthe
step, comes,
inputand the token
column to be used (words)
is established, is obtained,
that is, the column
for example:
from which the clean text comes, and the token to be used (words) is obtained, for example:
•• Tweets_token
Tweets_token<- <- unnets_tokens(tbl
unnets_tokens(tbl=tweets,
= tweets,
•• output
output = = “word”,
•• inputinput == “cleantext”
•• TokenToken== “words”)
“words”)

Figure 3. Applied process for Twitter sentiment analysis.

Figure 3. Applied process for Twitter sentiment analysis.

For data
For data and
and sentiment
sentiment lexicon
lexicon analysis
analysis and and the
the evaluation
evaluation of of emotions
emotions in in text,
text, within
within
the tidytext
the tidytext package,
package, there
there are
are three
three sets
sets ofof lexicons
lexicons that
that can
can be
be used:
used: BING,
BING, AFINN,
AFINN, and and
NRC [44]. These are based on unigrams or individual words, where
NRC [44]. These are based on unigrams or individual words, where the NRC lexicon classi- the NRC lexicon clas-
sifies
fies words
words into
into categories
categories such
such as negative,
as negative, positive,
positive, sadness,
sadness, fear,fear,
anger,anger, disgust,
disgust, sur-
surprise,
prise, anticipation, joy, and confidence. BING, on the other hand,
anticipation, joy, and confidence. BING, on the other hand, performs the classification performs the classifica-
tion only
only into positive
into positive and and negative
negative categories
categories [41,42].
[41,42]. AFINN,
AFINN, for for its part,
its part, assigns
assigns a score
a score to
to each
each word,
word, which
which is a
is in inrange
a range between
between (−(−5 and5),5),with
5 and with−−5 beingthe
5 being the score
score for
for the
the most
most
negative feelings
negative feelings and
and 55 being
being thethe most
most positive
positive score.
score.
In the
In the method,
method, the the use
use of
of the
the three
three lexicons
lexicons hashas relevance
relevance in in the
the identification
identification of of the
the
feelings of the population; in addition, the
feelings of the population; in addition, the characteristics characteristics of each of the lexicons pose
the lexicons pose an an
ideal scenario
ideal scenario forfor the
the analysis
analysis of of feelings.
feelings. For the use of AFINN, AFINN, it it was
was considered
considered that that
this lexicon
this lexicon handles
handles aa list
list of
of 2477
2477 words,
words, including
including 15 15 phrases,
phrases, which
which allows
allows determining
determining
in which
in which contexts
contexts thethe different
different terms
terms areare used.
used. AFFIN
AFFIN assigns
assigns words
words with with scores
scores ranging
ranging
from −
from −55 to
to 5, establishing negative scores as unfavorable feelings and positive scores as as
favorable feelings. When
favorable feelings. Whenapplying
applyingthe the BING
BING lexicon
lexicon in the
in the method,
method, it was
it was considered
considered that
that
it is aitsummary
is a summary of opinions
of opinions based based
on aspects on aspects that contain
that contain 6787These
6787 words. words. areThese are
classified
classified
in a binary in way,
a binary way,positive
either either positive or negative.
or negative. To defineTo define the opinion
the opinion in theintext,
the three
text, three
sub-
subcategories
categories are are made.
made. First,
First, adjective
adjective wordswords thatthat
are are normally
normally used used to express
to express opinions
opinions are
are established
established using
using an an
NPL NPL method.
method. InIn thesecond
the secondsubtask,
subtask,eacheachopinion
opinion wordword determines
determines
its
its semantic
semantic orientation,
orientation, andand aa technique
technique to to perform
perform thisthis task
task has
has been proposed
proposed usingusing thethe
WordNet database. Finally, the third subtask decides the orientation
WordNet database. Finally, the third subtask decides the orientation of the opinion in each of the opinion in each
sentence
sentence [45].[45]. With
With the
the NRC
NRC lexicon,
lexicon, it it is
is possible
possible toto work
work with
with 14,182
14,182 words
words associated
associated
with
with eight basic emotions (anger, fear, anticipation, confidence, surprise, sadness,
eight basic emotions (anger, fear, anticipation, confidence, surprise, sadness, joy,joy, and
and
disgust), and the categorization is generated according to their connotations [44]. Unlike
previous lexicons, NRC includes a broader set of words that are associated with or connote
an emotion, and this lexicon is available in multiple languages, including Spanish.

3. Results
The proposed method was designed for application to any subject of sentiment analy-
sis. However, for its evaluation, it was applied in the political sector. In Figure 4, the stages
of the method, adjusted to the application area, are presented using a flowchart.
 previous lexicons, NRC includes a broader set of words that are associated with or con-
note an emotion, and this lexicon is available in multiple languages, including Spanish.

3. Results
The proposed method was designed for application to any subject of sentiment anal-
Informatics 2022, 9, 63
ysis. However, for its evaluation, it was applied in the political sector. In Figure104,ofthe
16

stages of the method, adjusted to the application area, are presented using a flowchart.

Figure4.4.Flowchart
Figure Flowchartfor
forthe
theapplication
applicationof
ofsentiment
sentimentanalysis
analysismethod
methodtotoTwitter.
Twitter.

3.1.
3.1.Identification
Identificationofofthe
theProblem
Problem
The
The case study to evaluatethe
case study to evaluate themethod
method was
wascarried
carriedoutout
in Ecuador, where
in Ecuador, the the
where govern-
gov-
ment has been in office for one year. In this period, the president of Ecuador, Guillermo
ernment has been in office for one year. In this period, the president of Ecuador, Guillermo
Lasso,
Lasso,hashashad
hadtotoface
facethe
thepandemic,
pandemic,insecurity,
insecurity,education,
education,and andaacountry
countrythat
thaturgently
urgently
needs the economic reactivation of its society. Therefore, this is considered an
needs the economic reactivation of its society. Therefore, this is considered an ideal ideal scenario,
sce-
where
nario,the government
where has Twitter
the government hasaccounts that are followed
Twitter accounts that are by supporters
followed and retractors,
by supporters and
guaranteeing an adequate volume of data to obtain information. One consideration that
retractors, guaranteeing an adequate volume of data to obtain information. One consider-
was made in the analysis is that Ecuador is a country where the Spanish language is spoken;
ation that was made in the analysis is that Ecuador is a country where the Spanish lan-
therefore, the tweets obtained in the extraction process were kept in this language so as not
guage is spoken; therefore, the tweets obtained in the extraction process were kept in this
to negatively affect the volume of data or their importance.
language so as not to negatively affect the volume of data or their importance.
3.2. Sentiment Processing and Analysis
3.2. Sentiment Processing and Analysis
Once the accounts required for the use of the analytics features were created through
TwitterOnce the accounts
Developer required
and the foraccess
relevant the use of permissions
and the analyticswere
features were created
assigned, the nextthrough
phase
Twitter Developer and the relevant access and permissions were assigned,
was to obtain data from a source considered non-traditional. The information thesearch
next phase
was
was to out
carried obtain
withdata
thefrom a source
following considered non-traditional. The information search was
keywords:
carried out with the following keywords:
• Guillermo Lasso, health;
•• Guillermo
GuillermoLasso,
Lasso,economy;
health;
•• Guillermo
GuillermoLasso,
Lasso,security;
economy;
• Guillermo Lasso, education.
In the debugging and tokenization stage, the tweets were divided into individual
words or text units to effectively obtain the sentiment. By applying this process, the
results presented in Table 2 were obtained. In these results, priority has been given to
identifying the location of the tweet based on the search parameters. As observed in this
table, unexpected results were obtained, and it was necessary to improve the filter process,
specifically for the location. As can be seen, certain tweets are identified by the city to which
the user belongs. However, when it is accompanied by the country or province, the method
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 11 of 16

takes this location as a new one. In the data, a greater number of tweets was expected;
however, fewer results were obtained because the application collected the data for five
days. In addition, these data coincided with a week of protest that was carried out by
certain social groups. This event affected two specific issues, the economy and security. It
should be mentioned that the results are related to what happened since the protest sought
changes in the economic aspect of the country, and on the other hand, as the days went by,
the protest developed violent overtones that affected safety, affecting the results obtained.

Table 2. Results obtained from the extraction of tweets in each search category.

Retweet_Location Economy Education Health Security

Guayaquil 1932 238 538 3481
Quito 1767 138 1383 2039
Guayaquil, Ecuador 22 1602 11 981
Sangolquí 44 187 1514 572
Manta 176 241 424 953
Quito-Ecuador-
896 539 593 401
Sudamérica
Guayas, Ecuador 2091 477 371 2091
Cuenca 984 562 396 1093
Pichincha, Ecuador 209 113 102 1183
Total 8121 4097 5332 12,794

For sentiment analysis, the data are represented in different graphs in Power BI to
present accurate information that contributes to efficient decision making. For example,
Figure 5 presents the results of the sentiment of tweets classified by search content. These
results mark the feelings classified as negative in light blue, neutral in dark blue, and
positive in yellow. Negative sentiment is indicated in all search factors, especially in safety
and health, where negative sentiment is more representative. On the other hand, neutral
Informatics 2022, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW 12 of 17
sentiments have similar behavior in all of the factors. These percentages correspond to the
year 2022 during the protest in June.

Figure 5. Identification
Figure of feelings
5. Identification in the
of feelings search
in the categories
search in relation
categories to the
in relation government
to the of Ecuador.
government of Ecuador.

Figure 6 shows the terms with the highest repetition in the classified tweets according
Figure 6 shows the terms with the highest repetition in the classified tweets according
to several sentiment classification criteria. For example, among the TOP terms are anger,
to several sentiment classification criteria. For example, among the TOP terms are anger,
anticipation, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, and confidence. Within each
anticipation, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, and confidence. Within each cat-
category, the TOP 10 words with the highest repetition in tweets are considered; these vary
egory, the TOP 10 words with the highest repetition in tweets are considered; these vary
according to the identified sentiment. The words are sorted from highest to lowest. In
addition, with this information, it is possible to identify categories that have the greatest
incidence of the sentiment of users. For example, according to the TOP words, it is found
that for anger, there are 155 tweets where this feeling is recorded; in relation to money, as
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 12 of 16

according to the identified sentiment. The words are sorted from highest to lowest. In
addition, with this information, it is possible to identify categories that have the greatest
incidence of the sentiment of users. For example, according to the TOP words, it is found
that for anger, there are 155 tweets where this feeling is recorded; in relation to money, as
anticipated, the word public is found among the TOP words, mentioned in 170 tweets, and
the word money is present in 155. The category of fear is the one that registers the most
tweets, with the government having the greatest impact, mentioned in 387, and insecurity
mentioned in 110. In the categories of joy and surprise, the word money remains the TOP
word; this can be established as a generalized feeling before the economic factor13
Informatics 2022, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW hitofthe
17
Ecuadorian population. This is reaffirmed by the trust category, in which the economy is
mentioned in 325 tweets, which shows the population’s concern about this situation.

Figure 6. Identification
Identification of feelings with the TOP words with the highest repetition on Twitter.
Twitter.

4. Discussion
4. Discussion
According to
According to the
the results
results obtained,
obtained, itit is
is possible
possible toto conclude
conclude thatthat the
the method
method adapts
adapts
to the search needs, and analysis of the data results in the identification of the
to the search needs, and analysis of the data results in the identification of the feelings of feelings of
social network users. The proposed method, which enables the design
social network users. The proposed method, which enables the design of a method for of a method for data
analysis,
data allows
analysis, searching
allows for other
searching trendstrends
for other without deficiencies
without in its performance
deficiencies [46,47].
in its performance
Concerning other works in this proposal, a database is used for the storage
[46,47]. Concerning other works in this proposal, a database is used for the storage of in-of information.
Once these Once
formation. data are obtained,
these data arewhat is sought
obtained, what is to
is store
soughtthem
is toand be them
store able toand
present them
be able to
in projections and establish the development of a trend in a certain period.
present them in projections and establish the development of a trend in a certain period.
In the reviewed works, several investigations of political communication were found
In the reviewed works, several investigations of political communication were found
in which tools such as SentiStrength were used, which evaluates the sentiment of Twitter
in which tools such as SentiStrength were used, which evaluates the sentiment of Twitter
messages. An important feature of the tool is that the analysis is performed on tweets that
messages. An important feature of the tool is that the analysis is performed on tweets that
are in Spanish. This can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage; everything will depend
are in Spanish. This can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage; everything will depend
on the location where the analysis is carried out. With the use of SentiStrength, it is possible
on the location where the analysis is carried out. With the use of SentiStrength, it is possi-
to characterize the emotions transmitted and measure the intensity of the feeling associated
ble to characterize the emotions transmitted and measure the intensity of the feeling asso-
with a text [48]. As in this work, the classification can be executed on varied topics, among
ciated with a text [48]. As in this work, the classification can be executed on varied topics,
which are politics and economics [49]. One deficiency that is identified in the use of this
among which are politics and economics [49]. One deficiency that is identified in the use
of this tool and similar ones to this proposal is the handling of emoticons, which is com-
mon in tweets today. These tools do not manage them properly since they are only han-
dled when the emoticons are written with punctuation marks. This is currently not com-
mon since their use is generally graphical. Therefore, the cleaning and filtering of tweets
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 13 of 16

tool and similar ones to this proposal is the handling of emoticons, which is common in
tweets today. These tools do not manage them properly since they are only handled when
the emoticons are written with punctuation marks. This is currently not common since
their use is generally graphical. Therefore, the cleaning and filtering of tweets may be poor
or cause problems in identifying the sentiment [50].
This work presents a method that can be used in several thematic areas; however,
according to the results obtained, it was not possible to validate the hypotheses derived
from the analysis. Reference is made to the influencing factors that affect the phenomenon
of study. These factors can be organizational, institutional, or environmental [51]. For
example, if employment is considered a factor, communication tones can be considered.
This does not imply that the hypothesis is ruled out, but it is necessary to deepen the
analysis of the study and explore the effect that different variables have. It is also necessary
to integrate the training of the people in charge on the use of social networks, the study
population, and the average age of this population.
Regarding the use of the different libraries, a comparison was made in the initial stages
of this work. In this way, it was established that, in the extraction phase of the tweets,
the use of Rtweet allows the adequate downloading of the data according to the needs of
this work. However, it is necessary to consider certain library characteristics that can be
treated as advantages or disadvantages in similar works. Therefore, for Rtweet, a Twitter
account is needed so that Rtweet can authorize the credentials of specific accounts. This
is because the number of tweets that can be downloaded in 15 min through this library is
limited. In addition, even though it is possible to receive up to 18,000 tweets in 15 min,
there is a major limitation to using this API when searching for words or phrases, which is
that search results can only be returned for six to nine days. Rtweet also allows the user
to eliminate retweets, an option that can be activated when the message is the same and
does not provide new information. With another criterion, tweets can be filtered so that the
function only returns those written in Spanish [9].
Other sentiment analysis models use libraries such as TwitteR, which is a very handy
library for downloading data. This library, like the one outlined above, requires registration
in the Twitter API, and it is necessary to associate it with a developer account to obtain
access credentials. Once this process is complete, it is possible to access several types of
functions; for example, it is possible to access a search API endpoint that retrieves tweets
that contain terms that are set as arguments [8]. The results of the TwitteR search contain
relative information about the object. Among the tweet data that are obtained are when it
was written, who wrote it, the time, etc. In addition to these features, it is possible to use
functions that allow the user to interact with information without having to search through
a list of data.
The use of libraries for collecting tweets depends on the needs of each organization or
individual performing sentiment analysis [24]. In this work, the use of Rtweet is proposed,
considering that the event that was analyzed did not require the continuous collection of
tweets. Therefore, the application of both Rtweet and TwitteR is aligned with the needs of
this study. On the contrary, if the continuous collection of tweets is required and they are in
real time, it will be necessary to use another package, such as streamR. In addition, in the
analysis of the use of libraries, it will also be necessary to include the functions that each of
these includes since data visualization is a key component in the analysis, and the ability to
create graphs and maps of tweets will be significant for the use of one or another library.

5. Conclusions
This work proposes a method for the analysis of sentiments in social networks to
communicate massive data on any topic of interest. To evaluate the method, a case study
that seeks to identify the existing sentiment of the population concerning the management
of the government of Ecuador was implemented. On the one hand, it is part of the line
of studies aimed at the management and understanding of the behavior of citizens in
their interaction with the presidency of the republic. On the other hand, it seeks to take
Informatics 2022, 9, 63 14 of 16

advantage of an innovative approach that is based on measuring feelings expressed through

technologies by organizations and their communication processes.
The method developed for sentiment analysis is adaptable and can be applied to any
brand, product, or service, making it a valuable strategy for any organization. In addition,
today, social networks have become the main means to expose ideas or thoughts about an
aspect that may or may not become a trend. The large volume of data on social networks
allows implementing various analysis processes and contributes to the decision making of
organizations. This is based on the opinions of society that are continuously manifested. In
this case, the use of Twitter allowed identifying the opinions of a population that is active
on this social network.
For the design of the method, in addition to the characteristics of the social network, the
particularities found in the data were considered. Therefore, data processing is considered
important; by applying a robust method to the corpus of tweets, it is possible to identify
sentiments adequately. To achieve this, robust tools such as R Studio and Power BI were
used to visualize the results. The flexibility that these tools have allows the data to be
processed and loaded into a data warehouse quickly and without data corruption. This
occurs through a fast and economic flow of information that allows an agile and adaptable
reaction to changes.
In future work, it is proposed to improve the process of classification and the manage-
ment of word dictionaries that allow the creation of a data corpus in Spanish. For this, it is
necessary to create a database of comments, each with its equivalent score. In this way, both
positive and negative tags can be effectively managed and pinned, allowing comments to
be classified into their respective category. In addition, it is proposed to work on creating
comment lists with terms that are not relevant to sentiment analysis. By managing the
word lists of the texts, stop words can be eliminated more effectively to facilitate obtaining
the most important information for subsequent analysis.

Author Contributions: W.V.-C. contributed to the following: the conception and design of the study,
acquisition of data, analysis, and interpretation of data, drafting the article, and approval of the
submitted version. The authors S.M. and V.D.J. contributed to the study by design, conception,
interpretation of data, and critical revision. E.M. and A.M.-N. made the following contributions to
the study: analysis and interpretation of data, approval of the submitted version. All authors have
read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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