Network-oriented modeling of multi-criteria homophily and opinion dynamics in social media

Abstract

In this paper we model the opinion dynamics in social groups in combination with adaptation of the connections based on a multicriteria homophily principle. The adaptive network model has been designed according to a Network-Oriented Modeling approach based on temporal-causal networks. The model has been applied to a dataset obtained from a popular social media platform – Instagram, using the official Instagram API. The network model has also been analysed mathematically, which provided evidence that the implemented model does what is expected.