Domain-based user embedding for competing events on social media

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Xu, Wentao, Sasahara, Kazutoshi
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Xu, Wentao
Sasahara, Kazutoshi
author_facet Xu, Wentao
Sasahara, Kazutoshi
contents Social divide and polarization have become significant societal issues. To understand the mechanisms behind these phenomena, social media analysis offers research opportunities in computational social science, where developing effective user embedding methods is essential for subsequent analysis. Traditionally, researchers have used predefined network-based user features (e.g., network size, degree, and centrality measures). However, because such measures may not capture the complex characteristics of social media users, in our study we developed a method for embedding users based on a URL domain co-occurrence network. This approach effectively represents social media users involved in competing events such as political campaigns and public health crises. We assessed the method's performance using binary classification tasks and datasets that covered topics associated with the COVID-19 infodemic, such as QAnon, Biden, and Ivermectin, among Twitter users. Our results revealed that user embeddings generated directly from the retweet network and/or based on language performed below expectations, whereas our domain-based embeddings outperformed those methods while reducing computation time. Therefore, domain-based embedding offers an accessible and effective method for characterizing social media users in competing events.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2308_14806
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Domain-based user embedding for competing events on social media
Xu, Wentao
Sasahara, Kazutoshi
Computers and Society
Social and Information Networks
94-08
J.4
Social divide and polarization have become significant societal issues. To understand the mechanisms behind these phenomena, social media analysis offers research opportunities in computational social science, where developing effective user embedding methods is essential for subsequent analysis. Traditionally, researchers have used predefined network-based user features (e.g., network size, degree, and centrality measures). However, because such measures may not capture the complex characteristics of social media users, in our study we developed a method for embedding users based on a URL domain co-occurrence network. This approach effectively represents social media users involved in competing events such as political campaigns and public health crises. We assessed the method's performance using binary classification tasks and datasets that covered topics associated with the COVID-19 infodemic, such as QAnon, Biden, and Ivermectin, among Twitter users. Our results revealed that user embeddings generated directly from the retweet network and/or based on language performed below expectations, whereas our domain-based embeddings outperformed those methods while reducing computation time. Therefore, domain-based embedding offers an accessible and effective method for characterizing social media users in competing events.
title Domain-based user embedding for competing events on social media
topic Computers and Society
Social and Information Networks
94-08
J.4
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.14806