Understanding online political networks: The case of the far-right and far-left in Greece

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.This paper examines the connectivity among political networks on Twitter. We explore dynamics inside and between the far right and the far left, as well as the relation between the structure of the network and sentiment. The 2015 Greek political context offers a unique opportunity to investigate political communication in times of political intensity and crisis. We explore interactions inside and between political networks on Twitter in the run up to the elections of three different ballots: the parliamentary election of 25 January, the bailout referendum of 5 July, the snap election of 20 September; we, then, compare political action during campaigns with that during routinized politics.This work received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme (Horizon2020/2014–2020), under grant agreement 688380

Is suicidality distinguishable from depression? Evidence from a community-based sample

Objective: Suicidal behaviour is often considered in the context of depression. Taking an empirical, dimensional and population-based approach, this investigation examines two issues: first, whether it is justifiable to regard suicidality as a symptom of depression or an independent construct. Second, although suicidal behaviour has been shown to decline with increasing age and differ across gender, little is known about the stability of the underlying construct across the lifespan and between genders. Method: Data were derived from a community-based sample consisting of 7485 people aged 20–24, 40–44 or 60–64 years. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the adequacy of model fit and measurement invariance across gender and then age groups. Results: The data fitted a two-factor model of depression and suicidality better than a single-factor model. Multi-group analysis indicated strict measurement invariance for both gender and age groups, indicating no significant differences between groups in measurement model fit. Conclusions: These analyses establish that suicidality is distinguishable from depression, although the factors are substantially correlated. Results suggest that the underlying factorial relationship between suicidality and depression appears not to vary considerably between genders or across cohorts aged 20–24, 40–44 and 60–64 years. Finally, the analyses also highlight the necessity of inventories with scales identifying symptoms of suicidality independent of depression symptoms.A. Kate Fairweather-Schmidt, Kaarin J. Anstey, Andrew J. Mackinno

Fake accounts, real activism: Political faking and user-generated satire as activist intervention

In this article, I explore user-generated political satire in Italy by focusing on fake political accounts. By fake accounts, I refer to humorous social media accounts that satirize a politician or a political organization through impersonation. I investigate political faking and user-generated satire as an activist intervention. Through in-depth interviews, I explore the motivations and the relationship with Italian politics of a sample of fake account creators. The results show that most of the satirists interviewed here consider satire as a form of activism and even those who do not, still recognize the subversive nature of satire. Furthermore, a majority of the interviewees have complex biographies of activism that predate the creation of the fake accounts. For a smaller number of them, the fake accounts have also provided new possibilities to engage in activism away-from-keyboard (AFK)