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Contraction of Online Response to Major Events

Figure 5

Fraction of messages posted immediately before and after an event peak.

The fraction during the peak hour serves as a measure for the temporal singularity of the event. (A) The largest peak occurs during the finale of the golf tournament, data set 1, with a peak fraction of . (B) The second singular event is the presidential election thread, data set 2a, with a peak fraction of . (C) The snow storm event, data set 4a, on the other hand, shows a clear peak only when the time scale is coarsened, from hours to days. The snow storm is thus ''much less singular'' than the previous events, but still a distinct event in the broader view.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089052.g005