Surprise! Twitter is a terribly unreliable indicator of public opinion

#skewed

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Everyone knows that Twitter is rife with trolls and spambots. Yet despite having a less-than-stellar reputation, the social network is often held up as an accurate signifier of public opinion.

During the 2012 elections, countless stories cited Twitter activity as a sign of how America as a whole felt about a given candidate, debate, or single speech. One poster on a Ron Paul fan site, for example, expressed breathless amazement that the former congressman and presidential aspirant was the top trending topic on all of Twitter. ("Holy crap…He is really making a splash in this debate.")

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.