Missing description, lack of tweets, protected accounts= clues?

[lvaudor]

Hello Mike,

Thanks for this great package! I have been using it quite extensively lately (to characterize >12 000 user timelines) and cannot wait for your detailed description of it ;-)

I'm not quite sure that my remark qualifies as "issue" but:

I have noticed that accounts with fewer than 100 tweets, no user description, or protected accounts, lead to a failure of the algorithm, which is perfectly understandable... but can't we also take these "missing data" as clues as to whether or not a Twitter user is a bot?

I mean, protected accounts probably mean human-driven ones (I guess?). I would also say that a lack of tweets for a rather old account tends to point to a human being, too. As for lack of description, well... I don't know. I would have said "human" too but I'm not quite sure about this one.

So:

1. What's your take on this?

2. Do you think that the fact that these data are missing could be somehow turned into data at some point?

Thanks and keep up the great work :-)

Lise