Title
Exploring How Homophily And Accessibility Can Facilitate Polarization In Social Networks
Abstract
Polarization in online social networks has gathered a significant amount of attention in the research community and in the public sphere due to stark disagreements with millions of participants on topics surrounding politics, climate, the economy and other areas where an agreement is required. This work investigates into greater depth a type of model that can produce ideological segregation as a result of polarization depending on the strength of homophily and the ability of users to access similar minded individuals. Whether increased access can induce larger amounts of societal separation is important to investigate, and this work sheds further insight into the phenomenon. Center to the hypothesis of homophilic alignments in friendship generation is that of a discussion group or community. These are modeled and the investigation into their effect on the dynamics of polarization is presented. The social implications demonstrate that initial phases of an ideological exchange can result in increased polarization, although a consensus in the long run is expected and that the separation between groups is amplified when groups are constructed with ideological homophilic preferences.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.3390/info9120325
INFORMATION
Keywords
Field
DocType
political polarization, echo-chambers, social networks, binary voter model, discussion dynamics, opinion dynamics model
Positive economics,Social network,Friendship,Public sphere,Homophily,Computer science,Ideology,Artificial intelligence,Phenomenon,Discussion group,Polarization (politics),Machine learning
Journal
Volume
Issue
Citations 
9
12
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
4
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Cameron Chi Sum Taylor102.70
Alexander V. Mantzaris2316.19
Iván I. Garibay3106.76