ChamberBreaker: Mitigating the Echo Chamber Effect and Supporting Information Hygiene through a Gamified Inoculation System

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (CSCW2) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Youngseung Jeon ◽  
Bogoan Kim ◽  
Aiping Xiong ◽  
DONGWON LEE ◽  
Kyungsik Han
Keyword(s):  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Chamber Effect

scholarly journals Autocommunicative meaning-making in online communication of the Estonian extreme right

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari-Liis Madisson ◽  
Andreas Ventsel
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Extreme Right ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Phatic Communication ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
European Refugee Crisis ◽  
Chamber Effect

This article analyses the online communication of the Estonian extreme right that appears to be characterized by an echo-chamber effect as well as enclosed and hermetic meaning-making. The discussion mainly relies on the theoretical frameworks offered by semiotics of culture.One of the aims of the article is to widen the scope of understanding of autocommunicative processes that are usually related to learning, insight and innovation. The article shows the conditions in which autocommunicative processes result in closed interactions, based on reproducing stereotypes and redundant content. We detect antithetical meaning-making, an orientation towards normative (“correct”) texts and the prevalence of phatic communication as the main dominants that guide closed autocommunication. Such communication leads to polarization of dissimilar views and hinders dialogue. Our case study focuses on the discussion that arose in the context of the European Refugee Crisis that started in spring 2015.

The voice from the base(ment): Stridency, referential structure, and partisan conformity in the political blogosphere

First Monday ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Anne Roodhouse
Keyword(s):  
Political Event ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Sarah Palin ◽  
Partisan Identification ◽  
Conservative Media ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Chamber Effect ◽  
Blog Posts

The Internet has become a critical medium for American politics: in 2008, almost half of American adults looked for political information online, and 30 percent of Internet uses contributed to online political discussions. Using the candidacy of Sarah Palin as a case study of a provocative political event, this paper examines the tone, partisan leanings, and referential structure of six elite blogs. First by randomly sampling overall trends of Palin coverage and then by performing a quantitative content analysis of a sub-sample of posts, this paper finds that the valence and stridency of blog posts vary by partisan identification, and that stridency dramatically affects the referential structure of posts. Although the referential structure of blog posts varies significantly by blog, it does not vary along partisan lines. Nonetheless, the relationship between stridency and partisan conformity exposed by this paper illustrates a trend amongst conservative blogs to repeat the allegations of “liberal media bias” often voiced by traditional conservative media outlets, contributing to an “echo chamber” effect in the blogosphere.

scholarly journals Echo Chamber Effect in Rumor Rebuttal Discussions About COVID-19 in China: Social Media Content and Network Analysis Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandan Wang ◽  
Yuxing Qian
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Community Interactions ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Negative Sentiment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Chamber Effect

BACKGROUND The dissemination of rumor rebuttal content on social media is vital for rumor control and disease containment during public health crises. Previous research on the effectiveness of rumor rebuttal, to a certain extent, ignored or simplified the structure of dissemination networks and users’ cognition as well as decision-making and interaction behaviors. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to roughly evaluate the effectiveness of rumor rebuttal; dig deeply into the attitude-based echo chamber effect on users’ responses to rumor rebuttal under multiple topics on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, in the early stage of the COVID-19 epidemic; and evaluate the echo chamber’s impact on the information characteristics of user interaction content. METHODS We used Sina Weibo’s application programming interface to crawl rumor rebuttal content related to COVID-19 from 10 AM on January 23, 2020, to midnight on April 8, 2020. Using content analysis, sentiment analysis, social network analysis, and statistical analysis, we first analyzed whether and to what extent there was an echo chamber effect on the shaping of individuals’ attitudes when retweeting or commenting on others’ tweets. Then, we tested the heterogeneity of attitude distribution within communities and the homophily of interactions between communities. Based on the results at user and community levels, we made comprehensive judgments. Finally, we examined users’ interaction content from three dimensions—sentiment expression, information seeking and sharing, and civility—to test the impact of the echo chamber effect. RESULTS Our results indicated that the retweeting mechanism played an essential role in promoting polarization, and the commenting mechanism played a role in consensus building. Our results showed that there might not be a significant echo chamber effect on community interactions and verified that, compared to like-minded interactions, cross-cutting interactions contained significantly more negative sentiment, information seeking and sharing, and incivility. We found that online users’ information-seeking behavior was accompanied by incivility, and information-sharing behavior was accompanied by more negative sentiment, which was often accompanied by incivility. CONCLUSIONS Our findings revealed the existence and degree of an echo chamber effect from multiple dimensions, such as topic, interaction mechanism, and interaction level, and its impact on interaction content. Based on these findings, we provide several suggestions for preventing or alleviating group polarization to achieve better rumor rebuttal.

scholarly journals Viral misinformation and echo chambers: the diffusion of rumors about genetically modified organisms on social media

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 1547-1564
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Wang ◽  
Yunya Song
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Genetically Modified ◽  
Content Type ◽  
User Attitudes ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Chamber Effect

PurposeThe spread of rumors on social media has caused increasing concerns about an under-informed or even misinformed public when it comes to scientific issues. However, researchers have rarely investigated their diffusion in non-western contexts. This study aims to systematically examine the content and network structure of rumor-related discussions around genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on Chinese social media.Design/methodology/approachThis study identified 21,837 rumor-related posts of GMOs on Weibo, one of China's most popular social media platforms. An approach combining social network analysis and content analysis was employed to classify user attitudes toward rumors, measure the level of homophily of their attitudes and examine the nature of their interactions.FindingsThough a certain level of homophily existed in the interaction networks, referring to the observed echo chamber effect, Weibo also served as a public forum for GMO discussions in which cross-cutting ties between communities existed. A considerable amount of interactions emerged between the pro- and anti-GMO camps, and most of them involved providing or requesting information, which could mitigate the likelihood of opinion polarization. Moreover, this study revealed the declining role of traditional opinion leaders and pointed toward the need for alternative strategies for efficient fact-checking.Originality/valueIn general, the findings of this study suggested that microblogging platforms such as Weibo can function as public forums for discussing GMOs that expose users to ideologically cross-cutting viewpoints. This study stands to provide important insights into the viral processes of scientific rumors on social media.

Credible to Whom?

2017 ◽  
pp. 142-161
Author(s):  
Nathan Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Search Engine ◽  
Online Search ◽  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Active Choice ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Chamber Effect

This chapter adopts a case study approach to examine the echo chamber effect online. Individuals cobble together personalized newsfeeds by active choice and those choices are often accompanied by subtle manipulations in social media and online search engine algorithms that may shape and constrain the parameters of information on a given topic. In this chapter, the author studied vaccine-hesitant discourse in an online forum over a five-year period. Those conversations exhibited characteristics of what would be considered an echo chamber, as defined by Jamieson and Cappella (2008). The implications of this case study suggest that the echo chamber within the realm of vaccination can lead individuals toward content and information of dubious veracity, with significant implications for public health.

scholarly journals The echo chamber effect on social media

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (9) ◽  
pp. e2023301118
Author(s):  
Matteo Cinelli ◽  
Gianmarco De Francisci Morales ◽  
Alessandro Galeazzi ◽  
Walter Quattrociocchi ◽  
Michele Starnini
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Diffusion ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Interaction Networks ◽  
Echo Chambers ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Shared Narrative ◽  
Formation Of Groups ◽  
Chamber Effect

Social media may limit the exposure to diverse perspectives and favor the formation of groups of like-minded users framing and reinforcing a shared narrative, that is, echo chambers. However, the interaction paradigms among users and feed algorithms greatly vary across social media platforms. This paper explores the key differences between the main social media platforms and how they are likely to influence information spreading and echo chambers’ formation. We perform a comparative analysis of more than 100 million pieces of content concerning several controversial topics (e.g., gun control, vaccination, abortion) from Gab, Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter. We quantify echo chambers over social media by two main ingredients: 1) homophily in the interaction networks and 2) bias in the information diffusion toward like-minded peers. Our results show that the aggregation of users in homophilic clusters dominate online interactions on Facebook and Twitter. We conclude the paper by directly comparing news consumption on Facebook and Reddit, finding higher segregation on Facebook.

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