Characterizing deleted tweets and their authors

Abstract

This paper provides a detailed characterization of tweets posted and then later deleted by their authors, in the Twitter microblogging platform. Our characterization shows significant personality differences between users who delete their tweets and those who do not. We find that users who delete their tweets are more likely to be extroverted and neurotic while being less conscientious. Further, although deleted tweets contain more negative sentiment and swear words, they also show significant signs of being thoughtfully constructed.