TakeLab at SemEval-2017 Task 4: Recent Deaths and the Power of Nostalgia in Sentiment Analysis in Twitter

This paper describes the system we submitted to SemEval-2017 Task 4 (Sentiment Analysis in Twitter), specifically subtasks A, B, and D. Our main focus was topic-based message polarity classification on a two-point scale (subtask B). The system we submitted uses a Support Vector Machine classifier with rich set of features, ranging from standard to more creative, task-specific features, including a series of rating-based features as well as features that account for sentimental reminiscence of past topics and deceased famous people. Our system ranked 14th out of 39 submissions in subtask A, 5th out of 24 submissions in subtask B, and 3rd out of 16 submissions in subtask D.