Online social cohesion reflects real-world group action in Syria during the Arab Spring.
In recent years, political activists have taken to social media platforms to rapidly reach broad audiences. Despite the prevalence of micro-blogging in these sociopolitical movements, the degree to which virtual mobilization reflects or drives real-world movements is unclear. Here, we explore the dy...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254087 |
| _version_ | 1818400237626064896 |
|---|---|
| author | Megan Chiovaro Leah C Windsor Alistair Windsor Alexandra Paxton |
| author_facet | Megan Chiovaro Leah C Windsor Alistair Windsor Alexandra Paxton |
| author_sort | Megan Chiovaro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In recent years, political activists have taken to social media platforms to rapidly reach broad audiences. Despite the prevalence of micro-blogging in these sociopolitical movements, the degree to which virtual mobilization reflects or drives real-world movements is unclear. Here, we explore the dynamics of real-world events and Twitter social cohesion in Syria during the Arab Spring. Using the nonlinear methods cross-recurrence quantification analysis and windowed cross-recurrence quantification analysis, we investigate if frequency of events of different intensities are coupled with social cohesion found in Syrian tweets. Results indicate that online social cohesion is coupled with the counts of all, positive, and negative events each day but shows a decreased connection to negative events when outwardly directed events (i.e., source events) were considered. We conclude with a discussion of implications and applications of nonlinear methods in political science research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T07:33:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7e064f5857f441618c4d606de32389e6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T07:33:23Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-7e064f5857f441618c4d606de32389e62022-12-21T23:11:17ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01167e025408710.1371/journal.pone.0254087Online social cohesion reflects real-world group action in Syria during the Arab Spring.Megan ChiovaroLeah C WindsorAlistair WindsorAlexandra PaxtonIn recent years, political activists have taken to social media platforms to rapidly reach broad audiences. Despite the prevalence of micro-blogging in these sociopolitical movements, the degree to which virtual mobilization reflects or drives real-world movements is unclear. Here, we explore the dynamics of real-world events and Twitter social cohesion in Syria during the Arab Spring. Using the nonlinear methods cross-recurrence quantification analysis and windowed cross-recurrence quantification analysis, we investigate if frequency of events of different intensities are coupled with social cohesion found in Syrian tweets. Results indicate that online social cohesion is coupled with the counts of all, positive, and negative events each day but shows a decreased connection to negative events when outwardly directed events (i.e., source events) were considered. We conclude with a discussion of implications and applications of nonlinear methods in political science research.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254087 |
| spellingShingle | Megan Chiovaro Leah C Windsor Alistair Windsor Alexandra Paxton Online social cohesion reflects real-world group action in Syria during the Arab Spring. PLoS ONE |
| title | Online social cohesion reflects real-world group action in Syria during the Arab Spring. |
| title_full | Online social cohesion reflects real-world group action in Syria during the Arab Spring. |
| title_fullStr | Online social cohesion reflects real-world group action in Syria during the Arab Spring. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Online social cohesion reflects real-world group action in Syria during the Arab Spring. |
| title_short | Online social cohesion reflects real-world group action in Syria during the Arab Spring. |
| title_sort | online social cohesion reflects real world group action in syria during the arab spring |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254087 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT meganchiovaro onlinesocialcohesionreflectsrealworldgroupactioninsyriaduringthearabspring AT leahcwindsor onlinesocialcohesionreflectsrealworldgroupactioninsyriaduringthearabspring AT alistairwindsor onlinesocialcohesionreflectsrealworldgroupactioninsyriaduringthearabspring AT alexandrapaxton onlinesocialcohesionreflectsrealworldgroupactioninsyriaduringthearabspring |