A5064437896- Social Media and Politics
- Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence
- Complex Network Analysis Techniques
- Media Influence and Politics
- Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Capital and Networks
- Computational and Text Analysis Methods
- Media Studies and Communication
- Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection
- Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining
- Complex Systems and Decision Making
- Wikis in Education and Collaboration
- Digital Games and Media
- Data-Driven Disease Surveillance
- Spam and Phishing Detection
- University-Industry-Government Innovation Models
- Family Dynamics and Relationships
- scientometrics and bibliometrics research
- ICT Impact and Policies
- Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research
- Information Systems Theories and Implementation
- Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
- Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis
University of Pennsylvania
2015-2024
California University of Pennsylvania
2013-2023
Philadelphia University
2019
University of Oxford
2006-2013
Internet Society
2009-2013
Science Oxford
2009
Universitat de Barcelona
2004
The recent wave of mobilizations in the Arab world and across Western countries has generated much discussion on how digital media is connected to diffusion protests. We examine that connection using data from surge took place Spain May 2011. study recruitment patterns Twitter network find evidence social influence complex contagion. identify position early participants (i.e. leaders process) users who acted as seeds message cascades spreaders information). cannot be characterized by a...
Social media have provided instrumental means of communication in many recent political protests. The efficiency online networks disseminating timely information has been praised by commentators; at the same time, users are often derided as “slacktivists” because shallow commitment involved clicking a forwarding button. Here we consider role these peripheral participants, immense majority who surround small epicenter protests, representing layers diminishing activity around committed...
Data sharing, research ethics, and incentives must improve
This article explores the growth of online mobilizations using data from indignados (outraged) movement in Spain, which emerged under influence revolution Egypt and as a precursor to global Occupy mobilizations. The track Twitter activity around protests that took place May 2011, led formation camp sites dozens cities all over country massive daily demonstrations during week prior elections 22. We reconstruct network tens thousands users monitor their message for month (April 25, 2011)....
We analyze the communication network that emerged in social media around an international protest campaign launched May 2012. Applying insights from science and theory of brokerage, we examine cohesion with community detection methods, identify users spanned structural holes, creating bridges for potential information diffusion. also actual message exchange to assess how was used facilitate transmission information. Our findings provide evidence fragmentation online dynamics, a distribution...
We investigated the effects of Facebook’s and Instagram’s feed algorithms during 2020 US election. assigned a sample consenting users to reverse-chronologically-ordered feeds instead default algorithms. Moving out algorithmic substantially decreased time they spent on platforms their activity. The chronological also affected exposure content: amount political untrustworthy content saw increased both platforms, classified as uncivil or containing slur words Facebook, from moderate friends...
Does Facebook enable ideological segregation in political news consumption? We analyzed exposure to during the US 2020 election using aggregated data for 208 million users. compared inventory of all that users could have seen their feeds with information they saw (after algorithmic curation) and which engaged. show (i) is high increases as we shift from potential actual engagement; (ii) there an asymmetry between conservative liberal audiences, a substantial corner ecosystem consumed...
Abstract Many critics raise concerns about the prevalence of ‘echo chambers’ on social media and their potential role in increasing political polarization. However, lack available data challenges conducting large-scale field experiments have made it difficult to assess scope problem 1,2 . Here we present from 2020 for entire population active adult Facebook users USA showing that content ‘like-minded’ sources constitutes majority what people see platform, although information news represent...
We studied the effects of exposure to reshared content on Facebook during 2020 US election by assigning a random set consenting, US-based users feeds that did not contain any reshares over 3-month period. find removing substantially decreases amount political news, including from untrustworthy sources, which are exposed; overall clicks and reactions; reduces partisan news clicks. Further, we observe produces clear in knowledge within sample, although there is some uncertainty about how this...
Most human interactions today take place with the mediation of information and communications technology. This is extending boundaries interdependence: group reference, ideas behaviour to which people are exposed larger less restricted old geographical cultural boundaries; but it also providing more better data build informative models on effects social interactions, amongst them, way in contagion cascades diffuse networks. Online not only helping us gain deeper insights into structural...
Abstract Digital technologies keep track of everything we do and say while are online, spend online an increasing portion our time. Databases hidden behind web services applications constantly fed with information movements communication patterns, a significant dimension lives, quantified to unprecedented levels, gets stored in those vast repositories. This article considers some the implications this torrent data for social science research, types questions can ask world inhabit. The goal...
How do people consume news online? Here, we propose a novel way to answer this question using the browsing behavior of web users and networks they form while navigating content. In these networks, two outlets are connected if share fraction their audiences. We crucial improvements methodology employed in previous research: statistical test filter out non-significant overlap between sites; thresholding approach identify core audience network. explain why our is better than approaches data...
This work defines the framework to explore spatiotemporal signature of emergent collective phenomena on social media.
This study offers a systematic comparison of automated content analysis tools. The ability different lexicons to correctly identify affective tone (e.g., positive vs. negative) is assessed in social media environments. Our comparisons examine the reliability and validity publicly available, off-the-shelf classifiers. We use datasets from range online sources that vary diversity formality language used, we apply classifiers extract information about these datasets. first measure agreement...
Significance Access to diverse news strengthens democratic citizenship. Whether digital technologies have narrowed or widened diets fosters contentious debates. Previous research shows the abundance of sources might be leading more fragmented audiences, ideological segregation, and echo chambers. Our study resorts an unprecedented combination data show that increase in mobile access actually leads higher exposure content self-selection explains only a small percentage co-exposure news. We...
We study the effect of Facebook and Instagram access on political beliefs, attitudes, behavior by randomizing a subset 19,857 users 15,585 to deactivate their accounts for 6 wk before 2020 U.S. election. report four key findings. First, both deactivation reduced an index participation (driven mainly online). Second, had no significant knowledge, but secondary analyses suggest that it knowledge general news while possibly also decreasing belief in misinformation circulating online. Third, may...
This paper shows that online political discussion networks are, on average, wider and deeper than the generated by other types of discussions: they engage a larger number participants cascade through more levels nested comments. Using data collected from Slashdot forum, this reconstructs threads as hierarchical proposes model for their comparison classification. In addition to substantive topic discussion, which corresponds different sections forum (such Developers, Games, or Politics), we...
Significance Online networks carry benefits and risks with high-stakes consequences during contentious political events: They can be tools for organization awareness, or disinformation conflict. We combine social media web-tracking data to measure differences on the visibility of news sources two events that involved massive mobilizations in different countries time periods. contextualize role as an entry point news, we cast doubts impact bot activity had coverage those mobilizations. show...
This paper explores the growth of online mobilizations using data from 'indignados' (the 'outraged') movement in Spain, which emerged under influence revolution Egypt and as a precursor to global Occupy mobilizations. The tracks Twitter activity around protests that took place May 2011, led formation camp sites dozens cities all over country massive daily demonstrations during week prior elections 22. We reconstruct network tens thousands users, monitor their message for month (25 April 2011...
This article examines how emotional reactions to political events shape public opinion. We analyze discussions in which people voluntarily engage online approximate the agenda: Online offer a natural approach salience of issues and means as take place real time. measure shifts emotions over period that includes 2 U.S. presidential elections, 9/11 attacks, start military action Afghanistan Iraq. Our findings show help explain approval rates for same period, casts novel light on mechanisms...
We built an agent-based simulation, incorporating geographic and demographic data from nineteenth-century France, to study the role of social interactions in fertility decisions. The simulation made experimentation possible a context where other empirical strategies were precluded by lack data. evaluated how different decision rules, with without interdependent decision-making, caused variations population growth levels. analyses show that influence into model allows empirically observed...