Discovery and characterisation of socially polarised communities on social media
Abstract Social polarisation processes have become a central phenomenon for the explanation of population behavioural dynamics in today's societies. Although recent works offer solutions for the detection of polarised political communities in social media, there is still a lack of works that al...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-42592-2 |
| _version_ | 1827634735461957632 |
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| author | Javier Alvarez-Galvez Fermin L. Cruz Jose A. Troyano |
| author_facet | Javier Alvarez-Galvez Fermin L. Cruz Jose A. Troyano |
| author_sort | Javier Alvarez-Galvez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Social polarisation processes have become a central phenomenon for the explanation of population behavioural dynamics in today's societies. Although recent works offer solutions for the detection of polarised political communities in social media, there is still a lack of works that allow an adequate characterization of the specific topics on which these divides between social groups are articulated. Our study aims to discover and characterise antagonistic communities on Twitter based on a method that combines the identification of authorities and textual classifiers around three public debates that have recently produced major controversies: (1) vaccination; (2) climate change; and (3) abortion. The proposed method allows the capture of polarised communities with little effort, requiring only the selection of some terms that characterise the topic and some initial authorities. Our findings show that the processes of social polarisation can vary considerably depending on the subject on which the debates are articulated. Specifically, polarisation manifests more prominently in the realms of vaccination and abortion, whereas this divide is less apparent in the context of climate change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:17:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4e915e3b965e4836b245aeff72c537fb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:17:28Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-4e915e3b965e4836b245aeff72c537fb2023-11-26T12:58:29ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-09-0113111210.1038/s41598-023-42592-2Discovery and characterisation of socially polarised communities on social mediaJavier Alvarez-Galvez0Fermin L. Cruz1Jose A. Troyano2Department of Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Public Health, University of CadizDepartment of Computer Languages and Systems, University of Seville, Avda. Reina Mercedes s/nDepartment of Computer Languages and Systems, University of Seville, Avda. Reina Mercedes s/nAbstract Social polarisation processes have become a central phenomenon for the explanation of population behavioural dynamics in today's societies. Although recent works offer solutions for the detection of polarised political communities in social media, there is still a lack of works that allow an adequate characterization of the specific topics on which these divides between social groups are articulated. Our study aims to discover and characterise antagonistic communities on Twitter based on a method that combines the identification of authorities and textual classifiers around three public debates that have recently produced major controversies: (1) vaccination; (2) climate change; and (3) abortion. The proposed method allows the capture of polarised communities with little effort, requiring only the selection of some terms that characterise the topic and some initial authorities. Our findings show that the processes of social polarisation can vary considerably depending on the subject on which the debates are articulated. Specifically, polarisation manifests more prominently in the realms of vaccination and abortion, whereas this divide is less apparent in the context of climate change.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-42592-2 |
| spellingShingle | Javier Alvarez-Galvez Fermin L. Cruz Jose A. Troyano Discovery and characterisation of socially polarised communities on social media Scientific Reports |
| title | Discovery and characterisation of socially polarised communities on social media |
| title_full | Discovery and characterisation of socially polarised communities on social media |
| title_fullStr | Discovery and characterisation of socially polarised communities on social media |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discovery and characterisation of socially polarised communities on social media |
| title_short | Discovery and characterisation of socially polarised communities on social media |
| title_sort | discovery and characterisation of socially polarised communities on social media |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-42592-2 |
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