Modeling the duality of content niches and user interactions on online social media platforms

IF 2.9 2区社会学 Q1 ANTHROPOLOGY

Social Networks Pub Date : 2025-06-26 DOI:10.1016/j.socnet.2025.05.001

Alvaro Uzaheta , Viviana Amati , Christoph Stadtfeld

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Individuals use online social media platforms for social interaction and to create, consume and share creative content. Within large platforms, individuals’ interaction with content and the congregation of individuals sharing similar interests might have a dual relationship, leading to the emergence of focused content niches of specific individuals and types of content. These niches are smaller-scale social settings that may facilitate and structure interpersonal social interaction. This study introduces a novel two-step analytical framework to explore the influence of content niche affiliation on interaction patterns. In the first step, we employ Stochastic Block Models (SBMs) to analyze a two-mode network comprising content pieces and user-generated keywords assigned to them. This analysis uncovers distinct content niches where users can engage with one another. In the second step, We integrate these identified niches as independent variables within a Dynamic Network Actor Model (DyNAM) to investigate whether time-stamped user interaction dynamics are associated with these content niches. We illustrate the framework’s applicability through a case study of an online community catering to aspiring and professional designers, revealing the relationship between content niche affiliation and social interactions.

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对在线社交媒体平台上的内容利基和用户交互的二元性进行建模

个人使用在线社交媒体平台进行社交互动，创造、消费和分享创意内容。在大型平台中，个人与内容的互动和具有相似兴趣的个人的聚集可能具有双重关系，从而导致特定个人和内容类型的集中内容利基的出现。这些小生境是规模较小的社会环境，可以促进和组织人际社会互动。本研究引入一个新的两步分析框架来探讨内容生态位隶属关系对互动模式的影响。在第一步中，我们使用随机块模型（sbm）来分析由内容片段和分配给它们的用户生成关键字组成的双模式网络。这种分析揭示了不同的内容利基，用户可以在其中相互交流。在第二步中，我们将这些确定的利基作为动态网络参与者模型（dynamam）中的独立变量集成，以调查时间戳用户交互动态是否与这些内容利基相关联。我们通过一个在线社区的案例研究来说明该框架的适用性，该社区迎合了有抱负和专业的设计师，揭示了内容利基隶属关系和社会互动之间的关系。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Social Networks Multiple-

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

12.90%

发文量

118

期刊介绍： Social Networks is an interdisciplinary and international quarterly. It provides a common forum for representatives of anthropology, sociology, history, social psychology, political science, human geography, biology, economics, communications science and other disciplines who share an interest in the study of the empirical structure of social relations and associations that may be expressed in network form. It publishes both theoretical and substantive papers. Critical reviews of major theoretical or methodological approaches using the notion of networks in the analysis of social behaviour are also included, as are reviews of recent books dealing with social networks and social structure.