No echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit

Abstract Echo chambers in online social networks, whereby users’ beliefs are reinforced by interactions with like-minded peers and insulation from others’ points of view, have been decried as a cause of political polarization. Here, we investigate their role in the debate around the 2016 US election...

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Autores principales:	Gianmarco De Francisci Morales, Corrado Monti, Michele Starnini
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/bfe8d612c1cf4c608f6461974359dfd5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:bfe8d612c1cf4c608f6461974359dfd52021-12-02T14:06:32ZNo echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit10.1038/s41598-021-81531-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/bfe8d612c1cf4c608f6461974359dfd52021-02-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81531-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Echo chambers in online social networks, whereby users’ beliefs are reinforced by interactions with like-minded peers and insulation from others’ points of view, have been decried as a cause of political polarization. Here, we investigate their role in the debate around the 2016 US elections on Reddit, a fundamental platform for the success of Donald Trump. We identify Trump vs Clinton supporters and reconstruct their political interaction network. We observe a preference for cross-cutting political interactions between the two communities rather than within-group interactions, thus contradicting the echo chamber narrative. Furthermore, these interactions are asymmetrical: Clinton supporters are particularly eager to answer comments by Trump supporters. Beside asymmetric heterophily, users show assortative behavior for activity, and disassortative, asymmetric behavior for popularity. Our findings are tested against a null model of random interactions, by using two different approaches: a network rewiring which preserves the activity of nodes, and a logit regression which takes into account possible confounding factors. Finally, we explore possible socio-demographic implications. Users show a tendency for geographical homophily and a small positive correlation between cross-interactions and voter abstention. Our findings shed light on public opinion formation on social media, calling for a better understanding of the social dynamics at play in this context.Gianmarco De Francisci MoralesCorrado MontiMichele StarniniNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Gianmarco De Francisci Morales Corrado Monti Michele Starnini No echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit
description	Abstract Echo chambers in online social networks, whereby users’ beliefs are reinforced by interactions with like-minded peers and insulation from others’ points of view, have been decried as a cause of political polarization. Here, we investigate their role in the debate around the 2016 US elections on Reddit, a fundamental platform for the success of Donald Trump. We identify Trump vs Clinton supporters and reconstruct their political interaction network. We observe a preference for cross-cutting political interactions between the two communities rather than within-group interactions, thus contradicting the echo chamber narrative. Furthermore, these interactions are asymmetrical: Clinton supporters are particularly eager to answer comments by Trump supporters. Beside asymmetric heterophily, users show assortative behavior for activity, and disassortative, asymmetric behavior for popularity. Our findings are tested against a null model of random interactions, by using two different approaches: a network rewiring which preserves the activity of nodes, and a logit regression which takes into account possible confounding factors. Finally, we explore possible socio-demographic implications. Users show a tendency for geographical homophily and a small positive correlation between cross-interactions and voter abstention. Our findings shed light on public opinion formation on social media, calling for a better understanding of the social dynamics at play in this context.
format	article
author	Gianmarco De Francisci Morales Corrado Monti Michele Starnini
author_facet	Gianmarco De Francisci Morales Corrado Monti Michele Starnini
author_sort	Gianmarco De Francisci Morales
title	No echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit
title_short	No echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit
title_full	No echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit
title_fullStr	No echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit
title_full_unstemmed	No echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit
title_sort	no echo in the chambers of political interactions on reddit
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/bfe8d612c1cf4c608f6461974359dfd5
work_keys_str_mv	AT gianmarcodefranciscimorales noechointhechambersofpoliticalinteractionsonreddit AT corradomonti noechointhechambersofpoliticalinteractionsonreddit AT michelestarnini noechointhechambersofpoliticalinteractionsonreddit
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No echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit

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