Polarized information ecosystems can reorganize social networks via information cascades.

ABSTRACT: The precise mechanisms by which the information ecosystem polarizes society remain elusive. Focusing on political sorting in networks, we develop a computational model that examines how social network structure changes when individuals participate in information cascades, evaluate their behavior, and potentially rewire their connections to others as a result. Individuals follow proattitudinal information sources but are more likely to first hear and react to news shared by their social ties and only later evaluate these reactions by direct reference to the coverage of their preferred source. Reactions to news spread through the network via a complex contagion. Following a cascade, individuals who determine that their participation was driven by a subjectively "unimportant" story adjust the

SUBMITTER: Tokita CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8685718 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature