eprintid: 2371
rev_number: 8
eprint_status: archive
userid: 6
dir: disk0/00/00/23/71
datestamp: 2014-11-17 11:46:15
lastmod: 2014-11-17 11:46:15
status_changed: 2014-11-17 11:46:15
type: monograph
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Anagnostopoulos, Aris
creators_name: Bessi, Alessandro
creators_name: Caldarelli, Guido
creators_name: Del Vicario, Michela
creators_name: Petroni, Fabio
creators_name: Scala, Antonio
creators_name: Zollo, Fabiana
creators_name: Quattrociocchi, Walter
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: guido.caldarelli@imtlucca.it
creators_id: michela.delvicario@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: fabiana.zollo@imtlucca.it
creators_id: walter.quattrociocchi@imtlucca.it
title: Viral misinformation: the role of homophily and polarization
ispublished: unpub
subjects: H1
subjects: Z665
divisions: EIC
full_text_status: none
monograph_type: working_paper
keywords: Misinformation, Virality, Attention Patterns
abstract: The spreading of unsubstantiated rumors on online social networks (OSN) either unintentionally or intentionally (e.g., for political reasons or even trolling) can have serious consequences such as in the recent case of rumors about Ebola causing disruption to health-care workers. Here we show that indicators aimed at quantifying information consumption patterns might provide important insights about the virality of false claims. In particular, we address the driving forces behind the popularity of contents by analyzing a sample of 1.2M Facebook Italian users consuming different (and opposite) types of information (science and conspiracy news). We show that users' engagement across different contents correlates with the number of friends having similar consumption patterns (homophily), indicating the area in the social network where certain types of contents are more likely to spread. Then, we test diffusion patterns on an external sample of 4,709 intentional satirical false claims showing that neither the presence of hubs (structural properties) nor the most active users (influencers) are prevalent in viral phenomena. Instead, we found out that in an environment where misinformation is pervasive, users' aggregation around shared beliefs may make the usual exposure to conspiracy stories (polarization) a determinant for the virality of false information. 
date: 2014-11
date_type: published
number:  
publisher: ArXiv
pages: 12
institution: IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca
official_url: http://arxiv.org/abs/1411.2893
citation:   Anagnostopoulos, Aris and Bessi, Alessandro and Caldarelli, Guido and Del Vicario, Michela and Petroni, Fabio and Scala, Antonio and Zollo, Fabiana and Quattrociocchi, Walter  Viral misinformation: the role of homophily and polarization.  Working Paper  # /2014    ArXiv       (Unpublished)