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Forecasting With Social Media: Evidence From Tweets On Soccer Matches

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  • Alasdair Brown
  • Dooruj Rambaccussing
  • J. James Reade
  • Giambattista Rossi

Abstract

Social media is now used as a forecasting tool by a variety of firms and agencies. But how useful are such data in forecasting outcomes? Can social media add any information to that produced by a prediction/betting market? We source 13.8 million posts from Twitter, and combine them with contemporaneous Betfair betting prices, to forecast the outcomes of English Premier League soccer matches as they unfold. Using a microblogging dictionary to analyze the content of Tweets, we find that the aggregate tone of Tweets contains significant information not in betting prices, particularly in the immediate aftermath of goals and red cards. (JEL G14, G17)

Suggested Citation

  • Alasdair Brown & Dooruj Rambaccussing & J. James Reade & Giambattista Rossi, 2018. "Forecasting With Social Media: Evidence From Tweets On Soccer Matches," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1748-1763, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:56:y:2018:i:3:p:1748-1763
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12506
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    Cited by:

    1. He, Xue-Zhong & Treich, Nicolas, 2017. "Prediction market prices under risk aversion and heterogeneous beliefs," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 105-114.
    2. Pascal Flurin Meier & Raphael Flepp & Egon Franck, 2021. "Are sports betting markets semistrong efficient? Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Working Papers 387, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    3. Raphael Flepp & Oliver Merz & Egon Franck, 2024. "When the league table lies: Does outcome bias lead to informationally inefficient markets?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 414-429, January.
    4. Schlembach, Christoph & Schmidt, Sascha L. & Schreyer, Dominik & Wunderlich, Linus, 2022. "Forecasting the Olympic medal distribution – A socioeconomic machine learning model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    5. Christoph Schlembach & Sascha L. Schmidt & Dominik Schreyer & Linus Wunderlich, 2020. "Forecasting the Olympic medal distribution during a pandemic: a socio-economic machine learning model," Papers 2012.04378, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2021.
    6. Cano-Marin, Enrique & Mora-Cantallops, Marçal & Sánchez-Alonso, Salvador, 2023. "Twitter as a predictive system: A systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    7. Singleton, Carl & Reade, J. James & Brown, Alasdair, 2020. "Going with your gut: The (In)accuracy of forecast revisions in a football score prediction game," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Rambaccussing, Dooruj & Kwiatkowski, Andrzej, 2020. "Forecasting with news sentiment: Evidence with UK newspapers," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 1501-1516.
    9. Tao Chen & Erin P. K. So & Isabel K. M. Yan, 2021. "Are crises sentimental?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 962-985, January.
    10. Butler, David & Butler, Robert & Eakins, John, 2021. "Expert performance and crowd wisdom: Evidence from English Premier League predictions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(1), pages 170-182.
    11. Oliver Merz & Raphael Flepp & Egon Franck, 2021. "Underestimating randomness: Outcome bias in betting exchange markets," Working Papers 390, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    12. Philip ME Garboden, 2019. "Sources and Types of Big Data for Macroeconomic Forecasting," Working Papers 2019-3, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    13. Ramirez, Philip & Reade, J. James & Singleton, Carl, 2023. "Betting on a buzz: Mispricing and inefficiency in online sportsbooks," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1413-1423.
    14. Ruud H. Koning & Renske Zijm, 2023. "Betting market efficiency and prediction in binary choice models," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 325(1), pages 135-148, June.
    15. Arif Yüce & Sevda Gökce Yüce & Hakan Katırcı & Volkan Aydoğdu & Weisheng Chiu & Mark D. Griffiths, 2023. "The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sports Betting Tipsters as Professional Bettors: A Qualitative Interview Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, May.
    16. Merz, Oliver & Flepp, Raphael & Franck, Egon, 2021. "Sonic Thunder vs. Brian the Snail: Are people affected by uninformative racehorse names?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    17. Bowden, James & Kwiatkowski, Andrzej & Rambaccussing, Dooruj, 2019. "Economy through a lens: Distortions of policy coverage in UK national newspapers," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 881-906.
    18. Brown, Alasdair & Reade, J. James, 2019. "The wisdom of amateur crowds: Evidence from an online community of sports tipsters," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(3), pages 1073-1081.
    19. Brown, Alasdair & Reade, J. James & Vaughan Williams, Leighton, 2019. "When are prediction market prices most informative?," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 420-428.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G17 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Financial Forecasting and Simulation

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