Guided rewiring of social networks reduces polarization and accelerates collective action

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Everall, Jordan P., Frei, Lilli, Ringsmuth, Andrew K.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866911275516166144
author Everall, Jordan P.
Frei, Lilli
Ringsmuth, Andrew K.
author_facet Everall, Jordan P.
Frei, Lilli
Ringsmuth, Andrew K.
contents Global social and ecological challenges represent collective action problems requiring rapid and sufficient cooperation with pro-mitigation norms. Sociopolitical polarization hinders such cooperation. Prior agent-based models showed polarization emerges naturally in structured social networks and polarized cluster dissolution rate limits consensus formation rate. Here we study how guided link rewiring affects depolarization dynamics across synthetic and empirical (Facebook, Twitter) network topologies. We compare heuristic rewiring algorithms representing random meetings, mutual acquaintance introductions, and community bridging, alongside topology-based link recommender algorithms (Who to Follow and node2vec). Our heuristic algorithms all outperform Who to Follow in generating cooperative consensus. Homophilic rewiring generates cooperative consensus when agents can easily change opinions. However, heterophilic rewiring achieves this over broader conditions and can accelerate cooperative consensus formation by ~20%, including where up to 33% of the population experiences backfiring interactions. Heterophilic rewiring also vastly outperforms topology-based recommender algorithms. Random rewiring performed consistently well, achieving higher steady-state cooperation than seven out of eight more complex algorithms. Large disparities in steady-state cooperation for topology-based recommender systems highlight their volatility across network structures. Overall, our work reveals a subtle interplay between topology, rewiring algorithm and social depolarization, suggesting strong potential for carefully redesigning social networking technologies for social good.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2309_12141
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Guided rewiring of social networks reduces polarization and accelerates collective action
Everall, Jordan P.
Frei, Lilli
Ringsmuth, Andrew K.
Physics and Society
Statistical Mechanics
Social and Information Networks
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Populations and Evolution
Global social and ecological challenges represent collective action problems requiring rapid and sufficient cooperation with pro-mitigation norms. Sociopolitical polarization hinders such cooperation. Prior agent-based models showed polarization emerges naturally in structured social networks and polarized cluster dissolution rate limits consensus formation rate. Here we study how guided link rewiring affects depolarization dynamics across synthetic and empirical (Facebook, Twitter) network topologies. We compare heuristic rewiring algorithms representing random meetings, mutual acquaintance introductions, and community bridging, alongside topology-based link recommender algorithms (Who to Follow and node2vec). Our heuristic algorithms all outperform Who to Follow in generating cooperative consensus. Homophilic rewiring generates cooperative consensus when agents can easily change opinions. However, heterophilic rewiring achieves this over broader conditions and can accelerate cooperative consensus formation by ~20%, including where up to 33% of the population experiences backfiring interactions. Heterophilic rewiring also vastly outperforms topology-based recommender algorithms. Random rewiring performed consistently well, achieving higher steady-state cooperation than seven out of eight more complex algorithms. Large disparities in steady-state cooperation for topology-based recommender systems highlight their volatility across network structures. Overall, our work reveals a subtle interplay between topology, rewiring algorithm and social depolarization, suggesting strong potential for carefully redesigning social networking technologies for social good.
title Guided rewiring of social networks reduces polarization and accelerates collective action
topic Physics and Society
Statistical Mechanics
Social and Information Networks
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Populations and Evolution
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.12141