The Influence of Interdependence in Networked Publics Spheres: How Community-Level Interactions Affect the Evolution of Topics in Online Discourse

Abstract

Political discussions online, especially those in the United States, seem to range between harmonious discussions of likeminded people and heated debates that end with few, if any, who have changed their minds. Researchers have often examined these balkanized/polarized situations by studying online communities as isolated echo chambers of opinion. Our study focuses on the interactions between online communities who have different worldviews. We examine communities engaged in the global refugee crisis. We consider how the inter-community interactions influence the agenda of the respective communities. Our longitudinal analysis on the one hand confirms previous studies, namely that intra-community interactions indeed resemble echo chambers. On the other hand, we also find that there is interdependence in the inter-community discussion topics, albeit some communities had greater influence on other communities’ discussion topics. For example, larger, more stable communities command more influence.