Exploring shale activism on Twitter using spatio-temporal Network Analysis

The spatio-temporal response of online communities towards shale gas development (‘fracking’) across the UK was explored using Twitter network analysis over 2019. For the first half of the year the debate was driven by a well-informed community based primarily in the North of England with a history of shale gas activity. Changes in the political environment in the second half of the year, driven by the general election, saw the co-opting of the online debate at the national scale by three political communities clearly seeking to push their own political agendas.