European Patent Office (EPO) en Twitter: A content analysis

Abstract

Twitter accounts can be a relevant (in addition to websites) source of information, particularly for studying the public profile of an institution. In this study, a content analysis of the @epoorg account was performed. The description of the EPO on social networks has never been researched thus far. Using the Tractor software, 19,565 tweets were downloaded and uploaded to the Graphext platform, which uses machine learning to perform topic analysis. Twenty main clusters were identified, which, once organized, engendered the following four main content groups: awards, training, events, and thematic. The thematic contents that the EPO addresses include industry 4.0, cancer, COVID-19, battery innovation, clean energy, climate change. The content is balanced: no country stands out.