Opinion formation in Wikipedia Ising networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ermann, Leonardo, Frahm, Klaus M., Shepelyansky, Dima L.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ermann, Leonardo
Frahm, Klaus M.
Shepelyansky, Dima L.
author_facet Ermann, Leonardo
Frahm, Klaus M.
Shepelyansky, Dima L.
contents We study properties of opinion formation on Wikipedia Ising Networks. Each Wikipedia article is represented as a node and links are formed by citations of one article to another generating a directed network of a given language edition with millions of nodes. Ising spins are placed at each node and their orientation up or down is determined by a majority vote of connected neighbors. At the initial stage there are only a few nodes from two groups with fixed competing opinions up and down while other nodes are assumed to have no initial opinion with no effect on the vote. The competition of two opinions is modeled by an asynchronous Monte Carlo process converging to a spin polarized steady-state phase. This phase remains stable with respect to small fluctuations induced by an effective temperature of the Monte Carlo process. The opinion polarization at the steady-state provides opinion (spin) preferences for each node. In the framework of this Ising Network Opinion Formation model we analyze the influence and competition between political leaders, world countries and social concepts. This approach is also generalized to the competition between three groups of different opinions described by three colors, for example Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping or USA, Russia, China within English, Russian and Chinese editions of Wikipedia of March 2025. We argue that this approach provides a generic description of opinion formation in various complex networks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_22254
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Opinion formation in Wikipedia Ising networks
Ermann, Leonardo
Frahm, Klaus M.
Shepelyansky, Dima L.
Social and Information Networks
Statistical Mechanics
Physics and Society
We study properties of opinion formation on Wikipedia Ising Networks. Each Wikipedia article is represented as a node and links are formed by citations of one article to another generating a directed network of a given language edition with millions of nodes. Ising spins are placed at each node and their orientation up or down is determined by a majority vote of connected neighbors. At the initial stage there are only a few nodes from two groups with fixed competing opinions up and down while other nodes are assumed to have no initial opinion with no effect on the vote. The competition of two opinions is modeled by an asynchronous Monte Carlo process converging to a spin polarized steady-state phase. This phase remains stable with respect to small fluctuations induced by an effective temperature of the Monte Carlo process. The opinion polarization at the steady-state provides opinion (spin) preferences for each node. In the framework of this Ising Network Opinion Formation model we analyze the influence and competition between political leaders, world countries and social concepts. This approach is also generalized to the competition between three groups of different opinions described by three colors, for example Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping or USA, Russia, China within English, Russian and Chinese editions of Wikipedia of March 2025. We argue that this approach provides a generic description of opinion formation in various complex networks.
title Opinion formation in Wikipedia Ising networks
topic Social and Information Networks
Statistical Mechanics
Physics and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.22254