Network structure and patterns of information diversity on Twitter

Jesse Shore, Jiye Baek and Chrysanthos Dellarocas

HIPÓTESIS
Homofilia
We would expect the typical Twitter user to tweet links to news sources with similar
political slant to the slant of the content they receive from the people they follow
Hypothesis 1H: The mean political slant of news sources in tweets by
individuals is significantly correlated to the mean political slant of the
tweets that they receive from their followees.
VERDADERO: HAY CIERTA ORRELACIÓN ENTRE LA TENDENCIA
POLÍTICA DE LO QUE UNO RECIBE Y LA QUE UNO TUITEA.

Cámaras de eco
In an echo chamber, one only hears things one might have said oneself. If the
homophily of Hypothesis 1H is strong enough to create echo chambers, we would
expect not just correlation between political slants, but indeed for people to tweet at the
same mean level of political slant as those that they follow.
Hypothesis 1EC: The mean political slant of news sources in tweets sent by
individuals is the same as the mean political slant of the tweets that they
receive from the people they follow.
FALSO: HAY CORRELACIÓN, PERO NO IGUALDAD. El índice no es 1 sino
aprox 0,6/0,7.
Hypothesis 2EC: The larger the standard deviation of political slant an
account receives, the closer mean outgoing slant will be to the political
center
FALSO: a pesar de una baja diversidad política en el contenido recibido, no
vemos una toma de posición extremista. Es decir: no hay relación directa entre
diversidad del contenido y tendencia política. Puede haber centrismo a pesar de la
baja diversidad.
Hypothesis 3EC: The greater the clustering around an individual, the closer
the political slant in their own tweets is to the political slant in the tweets
they receive from the people they follow.
VERDADERO pero con matices. No entendí.
 Polarización
Conover et al. (2011) document polarization as a phenomenon in which the two sides
are not ignorant of each other (as the simple echo chambers theory would have it) but
rather in conflict: although people do not retweet information from users on the other
side of the political spectrum, they are aware of them and what they are saying.
Hypothesis 1P: The mean political slant of news sources in tweets by
individuals is more extreme than the mean political slant of the tweets that
they receive from the people they follow.
FALSO: no ocurre que los usuarios tuitean con posturas más extremas que las
recibidas.
Hypothesis 2P: The larger the standard deviation of political slant an
account receives, the more extreme outgoing slant is relative to incoming
slant. (esta es contradictoria con 2EC)
VERDADERO: y no sé por qué.

Espiral de silencio
We would expect individuals to Tweet material that is more politically neutral (centrist)
than what they receive, even if it is not at the true political center.
Hypothesis 1M: The mean political slant of news sources linked to in an
individual’s own tweets is more politically centrist than the mean political
slant in the tweets they receive from the people they follow.
VERDAERO: los usuarios tienden a postear contenido más centrista que el que
reciben.