I just downloaded the Tweets (about.twitter.com/en_us/values/e…) and will add my findings in this thread. My focus is Europe and Germany.
/1
![Screenshot of a Python jupyter notebook, showing that there are 9041308 Tweets in the IRA dataset.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DptzvoTVAAARoj2.jpg)
Thread and article medium.com/dfrlab/trolltr….
Their conclusion: Little to no impact. /3
They were published by 1 058 different accounts.
Twitter anonymized all accounts with less than 5k followers.
I think I have seen 'erdollum' before. Will have to go through my older analyses. /4
![40 most active accounts. Everyone but @erdollum is hashed, which means they had less than 5000 followers.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpt4DZeWkAADCCf.jpg)
![erdollum<br />
KansasDailyNews<br />
DetroitDailyNew<br />
RoomOfRumor<br />
TodayPittsburgh<br />
ChicagoDailyNew<br />
NewOrleansON<br />
TodayNYCity<br />
DailySanFran<br />
Seattle_Post<br />
ChrixMorgan<br />
StLouisOnline<br />
WashingtOnline<br />
TodayCincinnati<br />
PhoenixDailyNew<br />
WorldOfHashtags<br />
ScreamyMonkey<br />
DailySanJose<br />
OaklandOnline<br />
DanaGeezus<br />
DailySanDiego<br />
TodayBostonMA<br />
todayinsyria<br />
NewspeakDaily<br />
GiselleEvns<br />
LoraGreeen<br />
AmandaVGreen<br />
PhiladelphiaON<br />
Jenn_Abrams<br />
DallasTopNews<br />
SanAntoTopN](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpt7ObeU0AADf2u.jpg)
The account seems to have been fast with tweeting images for breaking news. Newspapers like to embed Tweets because they have to worry less about copyright. /7
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpt8juEWsAAyw0F.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpt8juNXgAEC2dB.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpt8juHXgAAZFFN.jpg)
![Merkle, Berlin, Deutschland, Flüchtlinge, Erdogan, Polizei, Hamburg](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpt_G3SXoAEcoE0.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuCZJcWwAIuMRj.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuCZJlXcAAaeUm.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuCZJgW4AAFwLN.jpg)
Basics of lazy marketing automation. Makes the account look active. Can we find patterns, when we look at what kind of content was posted? /13
![List of most used clients](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuKpmqXgAAJ0N_.jpg)
![Homepage of twibble.io](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuKpmfWwAEH_EJ.jpg)
![FAQ of twibble.io](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuKpmgXoAAS2Wf.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuM6AuVAAEGlfB.jpg)
Let's look through the replies of the more active accounts. /15
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuPgOXXUAEFHZz.jpg)
Did Twitter notify those users that they were contacted by a suspicious account? /16
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuQGWRXcAEmEhn.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuRKypW0AAwA4A.jpg)
Asking questions seems innocent and like they are actually interested. /18
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuSJDZX4AIbnta.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuSJDeWwAIVzMK.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuSJDdXgAAYqAb.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuSJDhXcAEoKEU.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuhbdPWkAAcfuL.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuhbdUXgAA1eKQ.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuhbdlUUAE0tbv.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuhbdTXcAAVcMF.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpuiDKiWsAEYF8U.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpujKP6WkAADcDV.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpujKP7WkAEaHUx.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpujKP6WsAAYoZL.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpuj2SVWsAADtPh.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpukvryX4AcUw2E.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpumiQDXoAAMq3q.jpg)
Article by @LcsWho based on my data for
@uebermedien: uebermedien.de/20286/wie-russ… /26
Without RTs: 85 566
Without URLs: 11 740
Wordcloud of those 11 740 Tweets. /27
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu0LxTXgAcHpM5.jpg)
Let's look at the burst days. /28
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu2LG1WwAArtW0.jpg)
487 Tweets
MerkelMussBleiben.
'erdollum' either doesn't understand what happens or wants others to believe that it doesn't understand it.
/34
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu9WHvWwAAIuDf.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu9WH3W4AAbOhK.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu9WIJU0AAwpY0.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu9WH2XUAAwe3d.jpg)
Autumn start. Like your average marketing agency. But with a little bit of politics.
/36
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu_ba9WwAEI_FJ.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu_bbRUYAI7Szf.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu_bbBX4AAaogT.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpu_bbLXUAACrXx.jpg)
116 Tweets.
After nearly a year of low volume, it's time for action. MerkelSuccess.
/37
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpvAbYZWkAAwSl5.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpvAbYyUwAAuKgW.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpvAbYlWkAA4BtI.jpg)
127 Tweets.
Election day. Hard push for AfD.
127 is a ridiculously small number of Tweets. That's what a single more active account tweets within an hour of a TV discussion.
/38
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpvCQYgXoAAyeKC.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpvCQYjWsAAHy3z.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpvCQYkWkAAgZJX.jpg)
- 100k Tweets sounds like a lot. But it isn't.
- 90% of the Tweets are fully automated Tweets of news articles to make the accounts look active and maybe attract followers.
- There were around 11 days of action.
/39
- They use reply-spam to gain more visibility. (Replying to accounts with many followers.)
- They use questions to be less obvious.
/40
- Few of them gained a significant number of followers.
- When their Hashtags got traction, other accounts ridiculed them.
/41
Enough for today. Thanks for your attention.
/42
Has someone a graph of the general usage of the terms at that time?
/43
/44
@conspirator0
about the news sources the accounts used.
/45
/46
Mention and Retweet Network of the German Tweets.
Position: ForceAtlas2 (Stronger Gravity, Gravity 0.1)
Color: Modularity Group (no edge weight influence)
/47
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpx4AICW4AAhOlw.jpg)
There errors where IRA accounts interact with each others because I extracted the handles from the Tweet text which aren't obfuscated.
I just realized I didn't lowercase handles.
/47
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpyszEcXoAA74yk.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpyszEhWkAAzzIV.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpyszEiXoAEXiGX.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpyszEkXgAAFC-w.jpg)
/57
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpyxCY3XUAAUoqt.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpyxCY5XUAA47RM.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpyxCY_XcAALO3_.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpyxCY5XoAEuH1C.jpg)
spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/t… /58
577 252 accounts, 712 033 mentions or replies. /59
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dpy4xwFW4AABLKk.jpg)
accountanalysis.lucahammer.com/Maksimoverypcor
accountanalysis.lucahammer.com/logvinovfihysfu
/67
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpzH2bkXcAAeI6-.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpzH2bIWsAE4Hs0.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpzH2bMW0AEySaq.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpzH2bLWkAAuPma.jpg)
With weight loss spam. /81
/via @MikeH_PR
/83
wired.com/story/twitters…