Implementing Sys.sleep() in get_friends function (error in loop)

[statguy15]

I'm having trouble running a loop (including the get_friends function from rtweet) since it immediately ends up exceeding the get_friends 15 people networks limit ("Warning: Rate limit exceeded - 88"). The loop works fine when using under 15 Twitterusers, but it's supposed to work for much bigger numbers. So I think the next step is to include some kind of retryonratelimit = TRUE or Sys.sleep(60x15) function? Hopefully this should be pretty straightforward, but I can't get it to work at all. The loop looks like this:

find_f <- function(df){
  F1_mean <- c()
  F2_mean <- c()
  anyFriends <- c()
  
  for(i in 1:nrow(df)){
    #pick user1 of dataset
    user_friends <- get_friends(df$name[i])
    #intersect with our candidatedata
    ids_intersect = intersect(user_friends$user_id, politicians$user_id)
    if(length(ids_intersect)==0){
      anyFriends <- c(anyFriends, FALSE) # User has no friends in the politicians df
    } else {
      #assign values to user based on intersect
      kandidat_friends = kandidat[kandidat$user_id %in% ids_intersect,]
      F1_mean <- c(F1_mean, mean(kandidat_friends$Faktor1, na.rm=TRUE))
      F2_mean <- c(F2_mean, mean(kandidat_friends$Faktor2, na.rm=TRUE))
      anyFriends <- c(anyFriends, TRUE) # user has friends in the politicans dataset
    }
  }
  df$Faktor1 <- F1_mean
  df$Faktor2 <- F2_mean
  df$anyFriends <- anyFriends
  return(df[df$anyFriends,])
}

my_users2 <- find_f(my_users)

Background information about the context: I am trying to measure political ideology on Twitter (by using Rtweet). I now have a dataframe consisting of +100 politicians user_id's along with two ideal point scores on 'factor 1' and 'factor 2' (both factors have a range of 1-4). It looks like this (called kandidat):

Navne	Faktor 1	Faktor 2
"Politician1"	3.5	1.0
"Politician2"	2.0	4.0
Etc...	X	X

I would then like to detect if random Twitter users follow one or more of the politicians from my dataset. If they e.g. follow two of the politicians in my dataset - "Politician1" and "Politician2" - I will then assign a mean of the two politicians ideal point scores on the two factors to the user. An example of a Twitteruser following these two politicians could then be factor 1 = (3.5+1.0)/2 = 2.25 and factor 2 = (2.0+4.0)/2 = 3.00. This is what the loop is now doing - except I can't get it to work when exceeding the rate_limit as explained above.

[nirgrahamuk]

@statguy15

Sys.sleep(60x15) function? Hopefully this should be pretty straightforward, but I can't get it to work at all.

what does cant getting it to work at all look like ?
I have to wonder whether your issue could be as simple as that perhaps you have written 60x15 instead of 60*15 ?

[statguy15]

Sorry: the 60x15 was just because the ** made the writing italics :-). In the bottom of the loop I tried writing Sys.sleep (60*15) as the rate_limit for get_friends is 15 minutes. But right now the code immediately just end up saying "Warning: Rate limit exceeded - 88" for every username without assigning any values to the Twitterusers.

I think the Sys.sleep (60*15) only needs to take effect every time I exceed the limit of 15 friends_networks collected? Or is it better to do it in the my_users2 <- find_f(my_users) command at the end?

Hope this makes more sense!