Getting started with the Twitter API v2 for academic research

Welcome to this '101 course' on getting started with academic research using the Twitter API. The objective of this course is to help academic researchers learn how to get Twitter data using the new Twitter API v2.

By the end of this course, you will learn:

• What the Twitter API is
• How to apply for the Academic Research product track and what’s available in it
• How to identify the endpoints to use for your use-case
• How to get data from the Twitter API v2 using Python and R
• How to write and build search queries

Who is this course for?

This is an introductory course (101), meant for anyone who is interested in getting started with the Twitter API v2 for research including

• Academic Researchers
• Students
• Independent Researchers

Note: While undergraduate students & independent researchers do not qualify for the academic research product track (which provides ability to search for Tweets older than 7 days), they can still follow this course and use the standard product track and the code samples associated with it.

For most of this course, there are no prerequisites and anyone can follow along. Specifically for module 6 which is the labs, you need to know very basic coding in Python or R. If you want to first learn or review the syntax for these two languages, check out the appendix section. It provides links to introductory material on Python and R, along with instructions on how to install Python and R.

Who is this course not for?

This is designed like a 100-level course. If you already gained access to the Academic Research product track, and/or, you already know how to get data from the Twitter API v2 using Python or R, this course may feel too “introductory” for you.

How is this course structured

This course consists of 8 modules. Use this course as a complete start-to-finish lesson for getting started, or if you already know some of the basics, you can start off on one of the more advanced modules later on in the course.

• Module 1: Learn what the Twitter API v2 is, and see examples of research done with it
• Module 2: Learn how to apply for a Twitter developer account and how to choose the right product track for your project
• Module 3: Learn how to decide what Twitter API endpoints to use, based on the data you need
• Module 4: Learn how to get your keys and bearer token from the developer dashboard to start using the Twitter API
• Module 5: Learn how to write search queries to get Tweets from the Twitter API
• Module 6 Labs in Python and R to learn how to write code and use libraries and packages to get Twitter data
• Module 7: Learn how to store Twitter data once you receive it, as well as data compliance and best practices
• Module 8: See a summary of what we learned in this course and find links for important resources for future reference.

There is also an Appendix that contains additional information and a glossary of terms used throughout this course, so it is a good idea to keep it handy (maybe even open in a new tab) and reference it whenever you come across a new term in this course.

Assumptions

Tweets

Whenever we refer to getting ‘Tweets’ using the Twitter API, we refer to only those Tweets that are publicly available. The Twitter API does not provide Tweet information for Tweets that have been deleted, and does not provide Tweets from users who have made their Tweets private.

V2 Only

We will only be using the new Twitter API v2 and not the old API (v1.1). To learn more about the Twitter API v2, check out this technical overview of the Twitter API v2.

Let us start with module 1, that provides an introduction to Twitter API and examples of research with it.