Multifaceted polarisation and information reliability in climate change discussions on social media platforms
Fuente:
arXiv
Enregistré dans:
| Auteurs principaux: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2024
|
| Sujets: | |
| Accès en ligne: | |
| Tags: |
Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
|
| _version_ | 1866918132274167808 |
|---|---|
| author | Bassolas, Aleix Massachs, Joan Cozzo, Emanuele Vicens, Julian |
| author_facet | Bassolas, Aleix Massachs, Joan Cozzo, Emanuele Vicens, Julian |
| contents | Social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter play a key role in disseminating both reliable and unreliable information about climate change. This study analyses the topology of interactions in Twitter and their relation to cross-platform sharing, content discussions and emotional responses. We examined climate change discussions across four topics: the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate refugees, and Doñana Natural Park. While retweets reinforce in-group cohesion in the form of echo chambers, inter-group exposure is significant through mentions, suggesting that exposure to opposing views intensifies polarisation, rather than mitigates it. Ideological divides feature content differences accompanied by steeper negative sentiments, especially from right-leaning communities prone to share low-reliability information. We identified a topological alignment between platforms, indicating that ideological communities span multiple sites. Our findings show that climate change polarisation is multifaceted, involving ideological divides, structural isolation, and emotional engagement. These results suggest that effective climate policy discussions must address the emotional and identity-driven nature of public discourse and seek strategies to bridge ideological divides. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_21187 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Multifaceted polarisation and information reliability in climate change discussions on social media platforms Bassolas, Aleix Massachs, Joan Cozzo, Emanuele Vicens, Julian Physics and Society Social and Information Networks Social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter play a key role in disseminating both reliable and unreliable information about climate change. This study analyses the topology of interactions in Twitter and their relation to cross-platform sharing, content discussions and emotional responses. We examined climate change discussions across four topics: the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate refugees, and Doñana Natural Park. While retweets reinforce in-group cohesion in the form of echo chambers, inter-group exposure is significant through mentions, suggesting that exposure to opposing views intensifies polarisation, rather than mitigates it. Ideological divides feature content differences accompanied by steeper negative sentiments, especially from right-leaning communities prone to share low-reliability information. We identified a topological alignment between platforms, indicating that ideological communities span multiple sites. Our findings show that climate change polarisation is multifaceted, involving ideological divides, structural isolation, and emotional engagement. These results suggest that effective climate policy discussions must address the emotional and identity-driven nature of public discourse and seek strategies to bridge ideological divides. |
| title | Multifaceted polarisation and information reliability in climate change discussions on social media platforms |
| topic | Physics and Society Social and Information Networks |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.21187 |