The Semantics of Microposts

The call for this special issue on the Semantics of Microposts resulted from discussions initiated by the first Making Sense of Microposts workshop. The workshop was born out of the recognition of the invaluable knowledge contained in the vast, heterogeneous, distributed, continuously updating data store comprised of microposts – very small chunks of typically instantaneously published data, posted via social media and other communication channels that restrict publication unit size. Microposts continue to grow in popularity as a means of communication. This is despite, or maybe because of, the restrictions in post size (typically 140/160 characters – Twitter/SMS, and/or associated, small multi-media elements, e.g., short YouTube videos, Instagram photos, Pinterest pins, Foursquare check-ins, g+ chats, Facebook likes). Near permanent connectivity and the advent of inexpensive smartphones, and specialised apps and short codes for microblogging via even feature phones, has resulted in an explosion in the generation of microposts, as they make possible near real-time dissemination of news and events, both public and personal. Twitter, for instance, reported as at 2014, 78% of its active users tweeting from a phone.1 Facebook reported for Mar 2014, 609 million users active via a mobile device, out of a total of 802 million active daily.2