Longitudinal research using social media data has been
under-explored in social and behavioral sciences. Despite its great potential,
longitudinal analysis using social media data faces unique challenges.
Researchers must consider many influential factors and incorporate them when
designing their studies and conducting analyses. Over the past decade, best
practices have originated from both studies focusing on social media data in
general and those applying longitudinal designs. This tutorial aims to educate
those unfamiliar with such a growing field, outlining the different steps that
may exist within data collection, data processing, and data analysis of
longitudinal social media data. To illustrate these techniques, we apply our
basic steps to a Twitter dataset about the 2020 U.S. wildfires, examining
sentiment throughout the wildfire period.
