Centrifugal Trend in News Comments in Social Networks

Abstract

The article considers the ratio of centripetal and centrifugal tendencies in comments to online news. The authors focused on the consistency of commenting and the centrifugal aspect. The hypothesis proved in this article refers to the self-developing nature of communication in social networks. It makes it possible to assess the extent of subjectivity of news discussion transmitted to the dialogue through the comments. Any online text becomes a basis for comments, which are also independent texts. The text that triggers further discussion is heterogeneous and ambiguous in its topics, issues, accents, and modalities. This heterogeneity is the source and potential of the centrifugal nature of further discussion. Comments to the original text form chains and branches of discussions. They are analyzed according to criteria that demonstrate a centrifugal tendency. The research featured an Internet text from the Vkontakte social network, comments to this message, and a mental map of the discussion. The analysis proved the consistency of the original text and the comments, as well as the consistency of the two opposing trends. This article continues the topic started in the publication on the Centripetal Trend in News Comments in Social Networks. It will be of interest to a wide range of readers, especially those engaged in social network studies and Internet linguistics.