scholarly journals Network structure and patterns of information diversity on Twitter

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Conan Shore ◽  
Jiye Baek ◽  
Chrysanthos Dellarocas
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Echo Chambers ◽  
Information Diversity

Social media have great potential to support diverse information sharing, but there is widespread concern that platforms like Twitter do not result in communication between those who hold contradictory viewpoints. Because users can choose whom to follow, prior research suggests that social media users exist in "echo chambers" or become polarized. We seek evidence of this in a complete cross section of hyperlinks posted on Twitter, using previously validated measures of the political slant of news sources to study information diversity. Contrary to prediction, we find that the average account posts links to more politically moderate news sources than the ones they receive in their own feed. However, members of a tiny network core do exhibit cross-sectional evidence of polarization and are responsible for the majority of tweets received overall due to their popularity and activity, which could explain the widespread perception of polarization on social media.

scholarly journals Echo chamber detection and analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Villa ◽  
Gabriella Pasi ◽  
Marco Viviani
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Community Detection ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Selective Exposure ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Detection Strategy ◽  
Echo Chambers ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Content Aware

AbstractSocial media allow to fulfill perceived social needs such as connecting with friends or other individuals with similar interests into virtual communities; they have also become essential as news sources, microblogging platforms, in particular, in a variety of contexts including that of health. However, due to the homophily property and selective exposure to information, social media have the tendency to create distinct groups of individuals whose ideas are highly polarized around certain topics. In these groups, a.k.a. echo chambers, people only "hear their own voice,” and divergent visions are no longer taken into account. This article focuses on the study of the echo chamber phenomenon in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, by considering both the relationships connecting individuals and semantic aspects related to the content they share over Twitter. To this aim, we propose an approach based on the application of a community detection strategy to distinct topology- and content-aware representations of the COVID-19 conversation graph. Then, we assess and analyze the controversy and homogeneity among the different polarized groups obtained. The evaluations of the approach are carried out on a dataset of tweets related to COVID-19 collected between January and March 2020.

Echo Chambers, Fake News, and Social Epistemology

2021 ◽  
pp. 206-227
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lackey
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Epistemology ◽  
Single Source ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Fox News ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Echo Chambers ◽  
Echo Chamber

A familiar criticism of Donald Trump is that, in watching only Fox News and similar news sources, he is creating a dangerous echo chamber for himself. Echo chambers are said to be responsible for a host of today’s problems, including the degradation of democracy. This diagnosis is fundamentally incorrect, and this chapter examines the two dominant explanations of the distinctively epistemic problem with echo chambers and shows that each is wanting. Echo chambers, by themselves, are not epistemically problematic. Echo chambers are characterized in purely structural terms, but what is needed to capture what is wrong with Trump’s exposure to only Fox News is content-sensitive. It is not that Trump is relying on a single source for news, but that he is relying on one that is unreliable. Finally, the chapter calls attention to the challenge of social media bots and the role of non-ideal social epistemology.

scholarly journals Neutral bots probe political bias on social media

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Chen ◽  
Diogo Pacheco ◽  
Kai-Cheng Yang ◽  
Filippo Menczer
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The Political ◽  
User Interactions ◽  
Political Bias ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Political Center ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
The Right ◽  
To Receive

AbstractSocial media platforms attempting to curb abuse and misinformation have been accused of political bias. We deploy neutral social bots who start following different news sources on Twitter, and track them to probe distinct biases emerging from platform mechanisms versus user interactions. We find no strong or consistent evidence of political bias in the news feed. Despite this, the news and information to which U.S. Twitter users are exposed depend strongly on the political leaning of their early connections. The interactions of conservative accounts are skewed toward the right, whereas liberal accounts are exposed to moderate content shifting their experience toward the political center. Partisan accounts, especially conservative ones, tend to receive more followers and follow more automated accounts. Conservative accounts also find themselves in denser communities and are exposed to more low-credibility content.

scholarly journals A model of opinion and propagation structure polarization in social media

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hafizh A. Prasetya ◽  
Tsuyoshi Murata
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Opinion Dynamics ◽  
Connection Strength ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Formation Probability ◽  
The World ◽  
Echo Chambers ◽  
Political Landscapes ◽  
Synthetic Networks

AbstractThe issue of polarization in online social media has been gaining attention in recent years amid the changing political landscapes of many parts of the world. Several studies empirically observed the existence of echo chambers in online social media, stimulating a slew of works that tries to model the phenomenon via opinion modeling. Here, we propose a model of opinion dynamics centered around the notion that opinion changes are invoked by news exposure. Our model comes with parameters for opinions and connection strength which are updated through news propagation. We simulate the propagation of multiple news under the model in synthetic networks and observe the evolution of the model’s parameters and the propagation structure induced. Unlike previous models, our model successfully exhibited not only polarization of opinion, but also segregated propagation structure. By analyzing the results of our simulations, we found that the formation probability of echo chambers is primarily connected to the news polarization. However, it is also affected by intolerance to dissimilar opinions and how quickly individuals update their opinions. Through simulations on Twitter networks, we found that the behavior of the model is reproducible across different network structure and sizes.

scholarly journals THE POLITICAL INFORMATION TO PROTEST: AN ASSESSMENT OF TOPICAL SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE IN CONTENTIOUS POLITICS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Mercea
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Information ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Prominent Component ◽  
The Social

This article leverages social media and survey data to probe the scope and depth of political knowledge possessed by participants in the Romanian 2017 #rezist protests. For several months, demonstrators gathered in town squares around the country to oppose a project law intended to water down penalties for corruption in high office. Against the backdrop of well-founded scepticism regarding exposure to and engagement with political knowledge on social media, we scrutinize the social media usage of protestors with an interest in the formulation and circulation of political knowledge. We find evidence of applied political knowledge as a prominent component of public activist communication on Facebook. An examination of the network structure further revealed bottlenecks in the circulation and brokerage of knowledge, a result that helps qualify the aforementioned scepticism.

scholarly journals Anxiety Talking: Does Anxiety Predict Sharing Information about COVID-19?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ori Cantwell ◽  
Kostadin Kushlev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Functional Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
The Past ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

Could fear and anxiety play a functional role during the COVID-19 pandemic by driving greater information sharing about the viral threat? To explore whether anxiety may serve as a unique emotional indicator of sharing information in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we used a representative sample of the United States from the American Trends Panel (N=9,188) conducted April 20th-26th, 2020. Participants reported how they have felt in the past week, where they got their news about the outbreak from, and whether they had posted COVID-19 news on social media or discussed the pandemic with others. Even after controlling for other emotions, news sources, and a range of demographic measures, feeling anxious—more so that other negative emotions, such as feeling depressed—predicted greater information sharing on social media (𝛽 = .05, p < .001) and beyond (𝛽 = .14, p < .001). These findings are consistent with functionalist theories of emotion, which predict that fear and anxiety play a unique role in both identifying and communicating threats to oneself and to others.

scholarly journals ANALISIS KONTEN DUKUNGAN MENYUSUI PADA KONDISI PANDEMI COVID-19 MELALUI PLATFORM SOSIAL MEDIA

2021 ◽  
pp. 1163
Author(s):  
Angelica Joanna Charity Kamalo ◽  
Wiyarni Pambudi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Family Support ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Collection Method ◽  
Consecutive Sampling ◽  
Breast Milk Production ◽  
The Social ◽  
Exclusive Group

Mothers who breastfeed their babies need love, attention, support and information in relation to health or breastfeeding, from other sources. An exclusive group who receive their education via social media will improve their breast milk production. However, it is not known whether the social media also contain supports for breastfeeding during COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of this research can provide exclusive breastfeeding for optimal child development. There are 91 samples that have been uploaded in the form of photos and videos on Instagram. Facebook and Twitter. The research is designed to use descriptive cross section using non-random, consecutive sampling technique. This research was conducted during the months of December 2020 and January 2021. Data collection method was used to analyse uploaded data on social media. Out of 91 samples found on social media, the research found informative materials in, the benefit of breastfeeding (16,48%), lactation management (15,38%), support in breastfeeding within the community or hospitals (14,29%), world breastfeeding week 2020 (14,29%), breastfeeding and COVID-19 (13,19%), the facts about breastfeeding (10,99%), family support in breastfeeding (9,89%) and special tips in breastfeeding under specific conditions (5,49%).  Ibu yang mempunyai bayi dan dalam keadaan harus menyusui membutuhkan kasih sayang, perhatian, dukungan serta informasi yang terkait kesehatan atau tentang menyusui dari orang lain. Terjadi peningkatan pemberian ASI eksklusif pada kelompok yang mendapat edukasi melalui jejaring sosial. Namun belum diketahui konten dukungan menyusui pada kondisi pandemi COVID-19 yang ada di platform sosial media. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah Dapat memberikan ASI eksklusif sehingga tumbuh kembang anak yang optimal. Sampel penelitian berjumlah 91 sampel yang berupa unggahan dalam bentuk foto dan video di Instagram, Facebook dan Twitter. Desain penelitian dengan deskriptif cross sectional, dengan teknik pengambilan sampel non-random consecutive sampling dan penelitian ini diadakan secara daring pada bulan Desember 2020 sampai Januari 2021. Cara pengambilan data dengan melihat unggahan dari platform sosial media selanjutnya hasilnya akan diolah. Hasil penelitian didapatkan bahwa dari 91 sampel diketahui bahwa konten yang ditemukan di sosial media yaitu manfaat menyusui/ ASI (16,48%), manajemen laktasi (15,38%), dukungan menyusui di RS/ komunitas (14,29%), menyusui sehatkan bumi/WBW (World Breastfeeding Week) 2020 (14,29%), menyusui dan COVID-19 (13,19%), fakta menyusui (10,99%), dukungan menyusui dari keluarga (9,89%) dan tips menyusui pada kondisi khusus (5,49%).

scholarly journals Characterizing Reactions and Comments Associated with News on Facebook

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Guimarães ◽  
Fabrício Benevenuto
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
New Method ◽  
The Political ◽  
Detailed Characterization ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Political Bias ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Facebook Pages

News consumption is increasingly done on social media websites. In this environment, all types of entities and people present themselves as news sources. These new outlets might focus on specific audiences, and some exhibit the news less objectively. Facebook is one of these platforms, which categorizes an extensive group of pages as a kind of news media. To analyze this phenomenon, it is crucial to characterize all pages that disseminate information in this ecosystem. Our main objective is to create an in-depth diagnostic of news stories and opinions, focusing on Brazilian Facebook. Our contributions are: (i) a new method to measure the political bias of Facebook pages on a given country, and (ii) a detailed characterization of a comprehensive sample of these pages.

Mass Determination by Direct Measurement of Electron Scattering

1975 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 240-241
Author(s):  
M. K. Lamvik ◽  
A. V. Crewe
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Electron Scattering ◽  
Mass Density ◽  
Variable Mass ◽  
Scattering Cross Section ◽  
Mass Determination ◽  
Number Density ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Thin Slice ◽  
Scattering Cross

If a molecule or atom of material has molecular weight A, the number density of such units is given by n=Nρ/A, where N is Avogadro's number and ρ is the mass density of the material. The amount of scattering from each unit can be written by assigning an imaginary cross-sectional area σ to each unit. If the current I0 is incident on a thin slice of material of thickness z and the current I remains unscattered, then the scattering cross-section σ is defined by I=IOnσz. For a specimen that is not thin, the definition must be applied to each imaginary thin slice and the result I/I0 =exp(-nσz) is obtained by integrating over the whole thickness. It is useful to separate the variable mass-thickness w=ρz from the other factors to yield I/I0 =exp(-sw), where s=Nσ/A is the scattering cross-section per unit mass.

A tilting high temperature gas reaction chamber for the JEM 7A T.E.M.

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-71
Author(s):  
Brian L. Rhoades
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Reaction Chamber ◽  
Objective Lens ◽  
Reduced Cross Section ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Structural Investigations ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Dynamic Experiments ◽  
Successful Design ◽  
Thermocouple Junction

A gas reaction chamber has been designed and constructed for the JEM 7A transmission electron microscope which is based on a notably successful design by Hashimoto et. al. but which provides specimen tilting facilities of ± 15° aboutany axis in the plane of the specimen.It has been difficult to provide tilting facilities on environmental chambers for 100 kV microscopes owing to the fundamental lack of available space within the objective lens and the scope of structural investigations possible during dynamic experiments has been limited with previous specimen chambers not possessing this facility.A cross sectional diagram of the specimen chamber is shown in figure 1. The specimen is placed on a platinum ribbon which is mounted on a mica ring of the type shown in figure 2. The ribbon is heated by direct current, and a thermocouple junction spot welded to the section of the ribbon of reduced cross section enables temperature measurement at the point where localised heating occurs.

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