Modeling opinion misperception and the emergence of silence in online social system.
In the last decades an increasing deal of research has investigated the phenomenon of opinion misperception in human communities and, more recently, in social media. Opinion misperception is the wrong evaluation by community's members of the real distribution of opinions or beliefs about a give...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2024-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296075 |
| _version_ | 1827376882216075264 |
|---|---|
| author | Daniele Vilone Eugenia Polizzi |
| author_facet | Daniele Vilone Eugenia Polizzi |
| author_sort | Daniele Vilone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the last decades an increasing deal of research has investigated the phenomenon of opinion misperception in human communities and, more recently, in social media. Opinion misperception is the wrong evaluation by community's members of the real distribution of opinions or beliefs about a given topic. In this work we explore the mechanisms giving rise to opinion misperception in social media groups, which are larger than physical ones and have peculiar topological features. By means of numerical simulations, we suggest that the structure of connections of such communities plays indeed a role in distorting the perception of the agents about others' beliefs, but it is essentially an indirect effect. Moreover, we show that the main ingredient that generates misperception is a spiral of silence induced by few, well connected and charismatic agents, which rapidly drives the majority of individuals to stay silent without disclosing their true belief, leading minoritarian opinions to appear more widespread throughout the community. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T12:29:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7d9bcac4c30b4c7a81cd87cb8d5440b8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T12:29:19Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-7d9bcac4c30b4c7a81cd87cb8d5440b82024-01-22T05:31:01ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01191e029607510.1371/journal.pone.0296075Modeling opinion misperception and the emergence of silence in online social system.Daniele ViloneEugenia PolizziIn the last decades an increasing deal of research has investigated the phenomenon of opinion misperception in human communities and, more recently, in social media. Opinion misperception is the wrong evaluation by community's members of the real distribution of opinions or beliefs about a given topic. In this work we explore the mechanisms giving rise to opinion misperception in social media groups, which are larger than physical ones and have peculiar topological features. By means of numerical simulations, we suggest that the structure of connections of such communities plays indeed a role in distorting the perception of the agents about others' beliefs, but it is essentially an indirect effect. Moreover, we show that the main ingredient that generates misperception is a spiral of silence induced by few, well connected and charismatic agents, which rapidly drives the majority of individuals to stay silent without disclosing their true belief, leading minoritarian opinions to appear more widespread throughout the community.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296075 |
| spellingShingle | Daniele Vilone Eugenia Polizzi Modeling opinion misperception and the emergence of silence in online social system. PLoS ONE |
| title | Modeling opinion misperception and the emergence of silence in online social system. |
| title_full | Modeling opinion misperception and the emergence of silence in online social system. |
| title_fullStr | Modeling opinion misperception and the emergence of silence in online social system. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modeling opinion misperception and the emergence of silence in online social system. |
| title_short | Modeling opinion misperception and the emergence of silence in online social system. |
| title_sort | modeling opinion misperception and the emergence of silence in online social system |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296075 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT danielevilone modelingopinionmisperceptionandtheemergenceofsilenceinonlinesocialsystem AT eugeniapolizzi modelingopinionmisperceptionandtheemergenceofsilenceinonlinesocialsystem |