Dynamics of opinion polarization
E. Biondi, C. Boldrini, A. Passarella, M. Conti

TL;DR
This paper analyzes how opinion polarization occurs in social networks using the Friedkin-Johnsen model, providing theoretical conditions, survey insights, and practical applications to real social graphs.
Contribution
It offers a comprehensive survey of the FJ model, derives conditions for polarization, and demonstrates how to identify polarizing states in real networks.
Findings
Derived invariant relations among polarization metrics
Established conditions for polarization based on social ties and susceptibility
Applied results to real social network graphs
Abstract
For decades, researchers have been trying to understand how people form their opinions. This quest has become even more pressing with the widespread usage of online social networks and social media, which seem to amplify the already existing phenomenon of polarization. In this work, we study the problem of polarization assuming that opinions evolve according to the popular Friedkin-Johnsen (FJ) model. The FJ model is one of the few existing opinion dynamics models that has been validated on small/medium-sized social groups. First, we carry out a comprehensive survey of the FJ model in the literature (distinguishing its main variants) and of the many polarization metrics available, deriving an invariant relation among them. Secondly, we derive the conditions under which the FJ variants are able to induce opinion polarization in a social network, as a function of the social ties between…
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Taxonomy
TopicsOpinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Complex Network Analysis Techniques · Social Media and Politics
