{"title":"Opinion Dynamics via Search Engines (and Other Algorithmic Gatekeepers)","authors":"F. Germano, Francesco Sobbrio","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2890853","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2890853","url":null,"abstract":"Ranking algorithms are the information gatekeepers of the Internet era. We develop a stylized framework to study the effects of ranking algorithms on opinion dynamics. We consider rankings that depend on popularity and on personalization. We find that popularity driven rankings can enhance asymptotic learning while personalized ones can both inhibit or enhance it, depending on whether individuals have common or private value preferences. We also find that ranking algorithms can contribute towards the diffusion of misinformation (e.g., “fake news”), since lower ex-ante accuracy of content of minority websites can actually increase their overall traffic share.","PeriodicalId":301794,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Computational Methods eJournal","volume":"13 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"113965213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Are You What You Tweet? The Impact of Sentiment on Digital News Consumption and Social Media Sharing","authors":"Hyelim Oh, K. Goh, T. Phan","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3215634","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3215634","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the impact of news content sentiment on digital news readership and social media sharing. Using econometric analyses and models estimated with rich clickstream data on online news readership and social media sharing data collected from Twitter, we find a differential effect of sentiment on news readership and sharing behaviors. Specifically, individuals are likely to read news articles with negative headline sentiment on the news website but tend to share articles with positive article sentiment on Twitter. Upon decomposition of news article sentiment, we find a contrasting positive author sentiment effect and a negative news topic valence effect on news readership. Interestingly, we uncover that an increase in a Twitter user’s followers leads to an increase in the Twitter user’s propensity to share positive-sentiment news articles. Overall, our findings affirm the coopetitive but complementary relationship between news websites and social media platforms. Our results also guide publishers to better craft their news content and manage social media presence to improve audience engagement and readership outcomes while preserving the agenda-setting ability of news media. Importantly, given the dichotomy between news reading and sharing behaviors, predicting individual behaviors based on social media opinions may need to be viewed with prudence.","PeriodicalId":301794,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Computational Methods eJournal","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131491029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"False Information and Disagreement in Social Networks","authors":"E. Sadler","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3074552","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3074552","url":null,"abstract":"Disagreement, including on matters of fact, is a pervasive phenomenon, yet this is incompatible with existing work on social learning. I propose a model of information processing with two key features: (i) the agent encounters false information, and (ii) the agent cannot distinguish true propositions from false ones. I study two families of axioms for update rules, finding that ``willingness-to-learn'' axioms are incompatible with ``non-manipulability'' axioms. I also provide an axiomatic characterization of several update rules. In a simple social learning model, disagreement is not just possible, but generic. I characterize the influence of each agent on steady-state beliefs and apply the framework to study echo chambers and belief manipulation.","PeriodicalId":301794,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Computational Methods eJournal","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115264951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Internet in Corporate Reputation Management","authors":"Muhammad Nauman Shahid","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3521787","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3521787","url":null,"abstract":"This research investigates the significance of the use of social media platform by the mobile telecommunication companies (MTCs) of Pakistan. It also questions that how MTCs cater their consumers and stakeholders’ inquiries to manage their corporate reputation on the internet. The top three Pakistani MTCs with their Twitter feeds were selected to examine how the mobile telecom sector use Twitter to build consumer relationships. And how do they provide quality of service for a more progressive internet reputation.<br><br>A content analysis of the tweets was conducted to determine the most frequent usage of Twitter in connection with the quality of services provided on the internet. The results show that customers use Twitter to find answers about the product specific questions. They also use it as a source of expressing their thoughts and emotions about a product/service offered by the telecom mobile operator.<br><br>Above all, Twitter is serving as a hub for real-time communication between MTCs and their consumers, performing similar tasks as traditional communication media. The results show that the mobile telecom companies should carefully plan time to reach out to their customers through this platform. This can help them to sufficiently manage and restrain from negative online publicity; which can be achieved by making and maintaining positive relationships with their clients.","PeriodicalId":301794,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Computational Methods eJournal","volume":"89 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126025905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Data-Driven Participation: Algorithms, Cities, Citizens, and Corporate Control","authors":"M. Tenney, R. Sieber","doi":"10.17645/UP.V1I2.645","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/UP.V1I2.645","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we critically explore the interplay of algorithms and civic participation in visions of a city governed by equation, sensor and tweet. We begin by discussing the rhetoric surrounding techno-enabled paths to participatory democracy. This leads to us interrogating how the city is impacted by a discourse that promises to harness social/human capital through data science. We move to a praxis level and examine the motivations of local planners to adopt and increasingly automate forms of VGI as a form of citizen engagement. We ground theory and praxis with a report on the uneven impacts of algorithmic civic participation underway in the Canadian city of Toronto.","PeriodicalId":301794,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Computational Methods eJournal","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122137108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social Media and Authoritarianism","authors":"Daniel Gayo-Avello","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2878705","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2878705","url":null,"abstract":"An analysis of the purported potential of social media as a democracy catalyzer is performed, paying attention to its role during the Iranian Protests and the Arab Spring. Then, the different ways in which authoritarian regimes can tamper social are explored.Social media is not a democratization force and authoritarian regimes can exploit it to their advantage. Moreover, there is a trend towards authoritarianism with regards to social media in a number of countries including Western democracies.This paper dispels the idea that social media may be a democratization catalyzer and shows that, instead, social media is considered a problem by many countries including full democracies. I argue that the combination of war on terror, economic crisis, contentious politics and populism bodes badly for liberal democracies with social media regulation being an early advice of future democratic erosions.","PeriodicalId":301794,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Computational Methods eJournal","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127127546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}