UNDERSTANDING AND ANALYZING MICROTARGETING PATTERN ON SOCIAL MEDIA

We now live in a world where we can reach people directly through social media, without relying on traditional media such as television and radio. The landscape of social media is highly distributed, as users generate and consume a variety of content. On the other hand, social media platforms collect vast amounts of data and create very specific profiles of different users through targeted advertising. Various interest groups, politicians, advertisers, and stakeholders utilize these platforms to target potential users to advance their interests by adapting their messaging.  A significant challenge lies in understanding this messaging and how it changes depending on the targeted user groups. Another challenge arises when we do not know who the users are and what their motivations are for engaging with content. The initial phase of our research focuses on comprehensively understanding users and their underlying motivations, whether practitioner-based or promotional. Gaining this understanding is crucial in reshaping our perspective on the content disseminated by these users. Step beyond that, assuming the identification of the involved parties, this study aims to characterize the messaging and explore how it adapts based on various targeted demographic groups. This thesis addresses these challenges by developing computational approaches and frameworks for (1) characterizing user types and their motivations, (2) analyzing the messaging based on topics relevant to the users and their responses to it, and (3) delving into the deeper understanding of the themes and arguments involved in the messaging.