Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Shrinate, Aashi, Tripathy, Twinkle, Behera, Laxmidhar
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.14298
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866917344537739264
author Shrinate, Aashi
Tripathy, Twinkle
Behera, Laxmidhar
author_facet Shrinate, Aashi
Tripathy, Twinkle
Behera, Laxmidhar
contents The Friedkin-Johnsen (FJ) model is a popular opinion dynamics model that explains the disagreement that can occur even among closely interacting individuals. Cluster consensus is a special type of disagreement, where agents in a network split into subgroups such that those within a subgroup agree and those in different subgroups disagree. In large-scale social networks, users often distribute into echo chambers (i.e. groups of users with aligned views) while discussing contested issues such as electoral politics, social norms, etc. Additionally, they are exposed only to opinions and news sources that align with their existing beliefs. Hence, the interaction network plays a key role in the formation of an echo chamber. Since cluster consensus can represent echo chambers in a social network, we examine the conditions for cluster consensus under the FJ model with the objective of determining the properties of the interaction network that lead to echo chamber formation. We present topology-based necessary and sufficient conditions for cluster consensus under the FJ model, regardless of the edge weights in the network and stubbornness values (which are difficult to estimate parameters in a social network). A major advantage of the proposed results is that they are applicable to arbitrary digraphs. Moreover, using the proposed conditions, we explain the emergence of bow-tie structures which are often observed in real-world echo chambers. Finally, we also develop a computationally feasible methodology to verify the proposed conditions for cluster consensus.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_14298
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Topological Conditions for Echo Chamber Formation under the FJ model: A Cluster Consensus-based Approach
Shrinate, Aashi
Tripathy, Twinkle
Behera, Laxmidhar
Systems and Control
The Friedkin-Johnsen (FJ) model is a popular opinion dynamics model that explains the disagreement that can occur even among closely interacting individuals. Cluster consensus is a special type of disagreement, where agents in a network split into subgroups such that those within a subgroup agree and those in different subgroups disagree. In large-scale social networks, users often distribute into echo chambers (i.e. groups of users with aligned views) while discussing contested issues such as electoral politics, social norms, etc. Additionally, they are exposed only to opinions and news sources that align with their existing beliefs. Hence, the interaction network plays a key role in the formation of an echo chamber. Since cluster consensus can represent echo chambers in a social network, we examine the conditions for cluster consensus under the FJ model with the objective of determining the properties of the interaction network that lead to echo chamber formation. We present topology-based necessary and sufficient conditions for cluster consensus under the FJ model, regardless of the edge weights in the network and stubbornness values (which are difficult to estimate parameters in a social network). A major advantage of the proposed results is that they are applicable to arbitrary digraphs. Moreover, using the proposed conditions, we explain the emergence of bow-tie structures which are often observed in real-world echo chambers. Finally, we also develop a computationally feasible methodology to verify the proposed conditions for cluster consensus.
title Topological Conditions for Echo Chamber Formation under the FJ model: A Cluster Consensus-based Approach
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.14298