Join the Chat: How Curiosity Sparks Participation in Telegram Groups

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Paoletti, Giordano, Almeida, Jussara M., Vassio, Luca, Gonçalves, Marcos André, Mellia, Marco
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908272989044736
author Paoletti, Giordano
Almeida, Jussara M.
Vassio, Luca
Gonçalves, Marcos André
Mellia, Marco
author_facet Paoletti, Giordano
Almeida, Jussara M.
Vassio, Luca
Gonçalves, Marcos André
Mellia, Marco
contents This study delves into the mechanisms that spark user curiosity driving active engagement within public Telegram groups. By analyzing approximately 6 million messages from 29,196 users across 409 groups, we identify and quantify the key factors that stimulate users to actively participate (i.e., send messages) in group discussions. These factors include social influence, novelty, complexity, uncertainty, and conflict, all measured through metrics derived from message sequences and user participation over time. After clustering the messages, we apply explainability techniques to assign meaningful labels to the clusters. This approach uncovers macro categories representing distinct curiosity stimulation profiles, each characterized by a unique combination of various stimuli. Social influence from peers and influencers drives engagement for some users, while for others, rare media types or a diverse range of senders and media sparks curiosity. Analyzing patterns, we found that user curiosity stimuli are mostly stable, but, as the time between the initial message increases, curiosity occasionally shifts. A graph-based analysis of influence networks reveals that users motivated by direct social influence tend to occupy more peripheral positions, while those who are not stimulated by any specific factors are often more central, potentially acting as initiators and conversation catalysts. These findings contribute to understanding information dissemination and spread processes on social media networks, potentially contributing to more effective communication strategies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_13635
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Join the Chat: How Curiosity Sparks Participation in Telegram Groups
Paoletti, Giordano
Almeida, Jussara M.
Vassio, Luca
Gonçalves, Marcos André
Mellia, Marco
Social and Information Networks
This study delves into the mechanisms that spark user curiosity driving active engagement within public Telegram groups. By analyzing approximately 6 million messages from 29,196 users across 409 groups, we identify and quantify the key factors that stimulate users to actively participate (i.e., send messages) in group discussions. These factors include social influence, novelty, complexity, uncertainty, and conflict, all measured through metrics derived from message sequences and user participation over time. After clustering the messages, we apply explainability techniques to assign meaningful labels to the clusters. This approach uncovers macro categories representing distinct curiosity stimulation profiles, each characterized by a unique combination of various stimuli. Social influence from peers and influencers drives engagement for some users, while for others, rare media types or a diverse range of senders and media sparks curiosity. Analyzing patterns, we found that user curiosity stimuli are mostly stable, but, as the time between the initial message increases, curiosity occasionally shifts. A graph-based analysis of influence networks reveals that users motivated by direct social influence tend to occupy more peripheral positions, while those who are not stimulated by any specific factors are often more central, potentially acting as initiators and conversation catalysts. These findings contribute to understanding information dissemination and spread processes on social media networks, potentially contributing to more effective communication strategies.
title Join the Chat: How Curiosity Sparks Participation in Telegram Groups
topic Social and Information Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.13635