Identifying artificial actors in E-dating: A probabilistic segmentation based on interactional pattern analysis

Abstract

We propose different behaviour and interaction related indicators of artificial actors (bots) and show how they can be separated from natural users in a virtual dating market. A finite mixture classification model is applied on the different behavioural and interactional information to classify users into bot vs. non-bot-categories. Finally the validity of the classification model and the impact of bots on sociodemographic distributions and scientific analysis is discussed. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.