Echo chambers, i.e., situations where one is exposed only to opinions that agree with their own, are an increasing concern for the political discourse in many democratic countries. This paper studies the phenomenon of political echo chambers on social media. We identify the two components in the phenomenon: the opinion that is shared ("echo"), and the place that allows its exposure ("chamber" -the social network), and examine closely at how these two components interact. We de ne a production and consumption measure for social-media users, which captures the political leaning of the content shared and received by them. By comparing the two, we nd that Twitter users are, to a large degree, exposed to political opinions that agree with their own. We also nd that users who try to bridge the echo chambers, by sharing content with diverse leaning, have to pay a "price of bipartisanship" in terms of their network centrality and content appreciation. In addition, we study the role of "gatekeepers, " users who consume content with diverse leaning but produce partisan content (with a single-sided leaning), in the formation of echo chambers. Finally, we apply these ndings to the task of predicting partisans and gatekeepers from social and content features. While partisan users turn out relatively easy to identify, gatekeepers prove to be more challenging.
Moreover, Garimella et al. REF showed that people who try to bridge the echo chambers, by sharing content with diverse leaning, have to pay a "price of bipartisanship", which is a latent phenomenon that effectively stifles mediation between the two sides.
Political Discourse on Social Media: Echo Chambers, Gatekeepers, and the Price of Bipartisanship
ArXiv
ArXiv
Computer Science Political Science