Curating Tweets: A Framework for Using Twitter for Workplace Learning

Hieu-Trung Le is pursuing his PhD in Information Technology at George Mason University. He is currently a cybersecurity architect at a large organization, with expertise in leading IT and security engineering implementation, risk management, vulnerability assessment, and ethical hacking. He provides consulting services for both the federal and commercial sectors and served as the subject matter expert for information security domains. His research focuses on engineering education, using social media data and tools to help improve learning for students and professionals in the cybersecurity ﬁeld. Johri Johri studies the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for learning and knowledge sharing, with a focus on cognition in informal environments. He also examine the role of ICT in supporting distributed work among globally dispersed workers and in furthering social development in emerging economies. He received the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Early Career Award in 2009. He is co-editor of the Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research (CHEER) published by Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. Dr. Johri earned his Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technology Design at Stanford University and a B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering at Delhi College of Engineering. multidisciplinary and experience spans two key disciplines: Human-Computer Interaction and Social Media Communication and Analytics. currently engaged a number of research funded In some of recent has applied big data techniques and tools to investigate the role of social media in engaging public and under-represented communities towards STEM education and informal learning. ABSTRACT Cybersecurity is a rapidly evolving field where professionals constantly need to keep up with new technologies and retrain. In this paper, we present a study that analyzed social media data and use the findings to aid professionals and students to learn more effectively using Twitter. We analyzed 23,000 cybersecurity related tweets posted on Twitter across two hashtags #cybersecurity and #infosec. Our analysis created a framework that explains how using descriptive, content, and network analysis can generate information that can help professionals learn. In addition, our analysis provided insights on the tweets and the cybersecurity community that use them. These insights include: Most tweets covered multiple topics and used three or more hashtags. Companies and other organizations had the highest numbers of followers, but individual users, experts in the field, were the most retweeted. Popular users, based on follower counts, were not necessarily the most influential (based on retweets). In terms of content, popular tweets consisted of infographics that packed a lot of information. Tweets were commonly used to announce file dumps of hacks and data leaks. Many highly used hashtags represented current threats and the overall sentiment of cybersecurity tweets are negative. Highly connected users on Twitter served as hubs across the three primary sub communities identified in the data. Insights from his study can assist with improving workforce development by guiding professionals in getting pertinent information and keeping up to date with the latest security threats and news. recognition, and people might follow them to get updates and news. Users with the most retweets are usually experts in the field and gets followers from other professionals. their tweets. Two companies stand out within the graph, CSOOnline is a cybersecurity focused news company, while ZDNET is a business technology news website. Both are major nodes within their respective community. CSOOnline is connected more to security organizations, whereas ZDNET have more connections to large companies and corporations. They each serve similar purposes but to a slightly different audience. Within the individual user community, @Fisher85M and @reach2ratan are both highly connected security professionals and serve as the connection point to the organization community. Many individuals within the user community do not have many degrees (connections), as highlighted by their sparse placement within the network graph. This makes the two central nodes even more important as they serve as the hub for connecting to the other communities. to individual by are by the compared The initial feedback from the interview study that was done to validate the framework and findings were positive. Overall the participants found that the framework helped made Twitter more useful in terms of using it as a tool for continuous learning. They were only able to test three of the four areas that were identified in the framework. Further research is needed to determine the overall benefits and effectiveness of the knowledge that is gained through the use of the framework. In addition, more research is needed on whether or not the top websites identified in the “Resource to Use” pillar are better and more effective than other websites when used as a resource for learning.