Are we always in strife? A longitudinal study of the echo chamber effect in the Australian Twittersphere

TL;DR

This longitudinal study analyzes the formation and evolution of echo chambers on Australian Twitter, revealing how polarized groups interact over time and the potential for outreach to reduce polarization.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the persistence and interaction of echo chambers across different issues and over an extended period in the Australian Twitter sphere.

Findings

Polarized groups on Twitter support opposing narratives on key issues.

Stance on one issue does not predict stance on another over time.

Limited interaction between polarized groups suggests potential for outreach to mitigate echo chambers.

Abstract

Contrary to expectations that the increased connectivity offered by the internet and particularly Online Social Networks (OSNs) would result in broad consensus on contentious issues, we instead frequently observe the formation of polarised echo chambers, in which only one side of an argument is entertained. These can progress to filter bubbles, actively filtering contrasting opinions, resulting in vulnerability to misinformation and increased polarisation on social and political issues. These have real-world effects when they spread offline, such as vaccine hesitation and violence. This work seeks to develop a better understanding of how echo chambers manifest in different discussions dealing with different issues over an extended period of time. We explore the activities of two groups of polarised accounts across three Twitter discussions in the Australian context. We found Australian Twitter accounts arguing against marriage equality in 2017 were more likely to support the notion that arsonists were the primary cause of the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires, and those supporting marriage equality argued against that arson narrative. We also found strong evidence that the stance people took on marriage equality in 2017 did not predict their political stance in discussions around the Australian federal election two years later. Although mostly isolated from each other, we observe that in certain situations the polarised groups may interact with the broader community, which offers hope that the echo chambers may be reduced with concerted outreach to members.