Chiraq Online: A Computational Analysis of Social Media Data to Better Understand Neighborhood Violence Among Youth in Chicago

Social media is quickly emerging as a venue for violent performances by youth and a potential catalyst of neighborhood-based gun violence. Chicago, nicknamed Chiraq for its stubbornly high levels of gun violence, is one of the epicenters of this new phenomenon that may have consequences for homicide rates among youth. No research to date has used computational methods to explore the role of social media in the homicide epidemic among young men of color in Chicago. The current study breaks new ground in the study of neighborhood violence among urban youth by applying computational methods to 1) identify a sample of social media posts (Twitter and Instagram) with potential ties to neighborhood violence in Chicago; 2) describe trends in posts and network ties in the sample; 3) test for spatial and temporal associations between geo-located posts in the sample and homicide rates across wards in Chicago; 4) reveal important implications for use of social media data for violence prevention policy and practice. The study quantifies the pervasiveness of social media content generated by youth in Chicago that references neighborhood violence. The study provides an initial glimpse of the features of user profiles and posts violence that might increase risk of involvement in neighborhood-based gun violence, and identifies open questions for future research. Findings from the study also highlight challenges to the use of social media data for violence prevention research and ethical concerns in interpretation of violent performances online.