Characterizing engagement dynamics across topics on Facebook

Social media platforms heavily changed how users consume and digest information and, thus, how the popularity of topics evolves. In this paper, we explore the interplay between the virality of controversial topics and how they may trigger heated discussions and eventually increase users’ polarizatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one Vol. 18; no. 6; p. e0286150
Main Authors: Etta, Gabriele, Sangiorgio, Emanuele, Di Marco, Niccolò, Avalle, Michele, Scala, Antonio, Cinelli, Matteo, Quattrociocchi, Walter
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 28.06.2023
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:
Algorithms
Biology and Life Sciences
Computer and Information Sciences
Consumption
Data collection
Data mining
Evaluation
Humans
Information management
Keywords
Quantitative analysis
Research and Analysis Methods
Social Media
Social Networking
Social networks
Social Sciences
Italy
ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Social media platforms heavily changed how users consume and digest information and, thus, how the popularity of topics evolves. In this paper, we explore the interplay between the virality of controversial topics and how they may trigger heated discussions and eventually increase users’ polarization. We perform a quantitative analysis on Facebook by collecting ∼57 M posts from ∼2 M pages and groups between 2018 and 2022, focusing on engaging topics involving scandals, tragedies, and social and political issues. Using logistic functions, we quantitatively assess the evolution of these topics finding similar patterns in their engagement dynamics. Finally, we show that initial burstiness may predict the rise of users’ future adverse reactions regardless of the discussed topic.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0286150