The Influence of Interdependence in Networked Publics Spheres: How Community-Level Interactions Affect the Evolution of Topics in Online Discourse. Issue 3 (13th May 2021)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- The Influence of Interdependence in Networked Publics Spheres: How Community-Level Interactions Affect the Evolution of Topics in Online Discourse. Issue 3 (13th May 2021)
- Main Title:
- The Influence of Interdependence in Networked Publics Spheres: How Community-Level Interactions Affect the Evolution of Topics in Online Discourse
- Authors:
- Yang, Aimei
Choi, Ian Myoungsu
Abeliuk, Andrés
Saffer, Adam - Abstract:
- Abstract: : Investigations of networked public spheres often examine the structures of online platforms by studying users' interactions. These works suggest that users' interactions can lead to cyberbalkanization when interlocutors form homophilous communities that typically have few connections to others with opposing ideologies. Yet, rather than assuming communities are isolated, this study examines community-level interactions to reveal how communities in online discourses are more interdependent than previously theorized. Specifically, we examine how such interactions influence the evolution of topics overtime in source and target communities. Our analysis found that (a) the size of a source community (the community that initiates interactions) and a target community (the community that receives interactions), (b) the stability of the source community, and (c) the volume of mentions from a source community to a target community predicts the level of influence one community has on another's discussion topics. We argue this has significant theoretical and practical implications. Lay Summary: Political discussions online, especially those in the United States, seem to range between harmonious discussions of likeminded people and heated debates that end with few, if any, who have changed their minds. Researchers have often examined these balkanized/polarized situations by studying online communities as isolated echo chambers of opinion. Our study focuses on the interactionsAbstract: : Investigations of networked public spheres often examine the structures of online platforms by studying users' interactions. These works suggest that users' interactions can lead to cyberbalkanization when interlocutors form homophilous communities that typically have few connections to others with opposing ideologies. Yet, rather than assuming communities are isolated, this study examines community-level interactions to reveal how communities in online discourses are more interdependent than previously theorized. Specifically, we examine how such interactions influence the evolution of topics overtime in source and target communities. Our analysis found that (a) the size of a source community (the community that initiates interactions) and a target community (the community that receives interactions), (b) the stability of the source community, and (c) the volume of mentions from a source community to a target community predicts the level of influence one community has on another's discussion topics. We argue this has significant theoretical and practical implications. Lay Summary: Political discussions online, especially those in the United States, seem to range between harmonious discussions of likeminded people and heated debates that end with few, if any, who have changed their minds. Researchers have often examined these balkanized/polarized situations by studying online communities as isolated echo chambers of opinion. Our study focuses on the interactions between online communities who have different worldviews. We examine communities engaged in the global refugee crisis. We consider how the inter-community interactions influence the agenda of the respective communities. Our longitudinal analysis on the one hand confirms previous studies, namely that intra-community interactions indeed resemble echo chambers. On the other hand, we also find that there is interdependence in the inter-community discussion topics, albeit some communities had greater influence on other communities' discussion topics. For example, larger, more stable communities command more influence. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Journal of computer-mediated communication. Volume 26:Issue 3(2021)
- Journal:
- Journal of computer-mediated communication
- Issue:
- Volume 26:Issue 3(2021)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 26, Issue 3 (2021)
- Year:
- 2021
- Volume:
- 26
- Issue:
- 3
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2021-0026-0003-0000
- Page Start:
- 148
- Page End:
- 166
- Publication Date:
- 2021-05-13
- Subjects:
- Networked Public Spheres -- Cyberbalkanization -- Twitter Discourse -- Community-Level Interaction -- Network Analysis -- Dynamic Topic Modeling
Telematics -- Periodicals
Computer networks -- Social aspects -- Periodicals
Communication -- Periodicals
302.20285 - Journal URLs:
- http://firstsearch.oclc.org ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1083-6101 ↗
http://bibpurl.oclc.org/web/241 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1093/jcmc/zmab002 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1083-6101
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4963.740000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 23456.xml