Comparison of Clustering Algorithms for the Identification of Topics on Twitter

  • Marjori N. M. Klinczak University of Technology of Paraná
  • Celso A. A. Kaestner University of Technology of Paraná
Keywords: text processing, clustering algorithms, NMF algorithm, Twitter topics identification

Abstract

Topic Identification in Social Networks has become an important task when dealing with event detection, particularly when global communities are affected. In order to attack this problem, text processing techniques and machine learning algorithms have been extensively used. In this paper we compare four clustering algorithms – k-means, k-medoids, DBSCAN and NMF (Non-negative Matrix Factorization) – in order to detect topics related to textual messages obtained from Twitter. The algorithms were applied to a database initially composed by tweets having hashtags related to the recent Nepal earthquake as initial context. Obtained results suggest that the NMF clustering algorithm presents superior results, providing simpler clusters that are also easier to interpret.

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Published
2016-05-20
How to Cite
[1]
M. Klinczak and C. Kaestner, “Comparison of Clustering Algorithms for the Identification of Topics on Twitter”, LAJC, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 19 - 26, May 2016.
Section
Research Articles for the Regular Issue