Homophily and Polarization in Twitter Political Networks:A Cross-Country Analysis

Homophily, the tendency of people to have ties with those who are similar, is a fundamental pattern to understand human relations. As such, the study of homophily can provide key insights into the flow of information and behaviors within political contexts. Indeed, some degree of polarization is necessary for the functioning of liberal democracies, but too much polarization can increase the adoption of extreme political positions and create democratic gridlock. The relationship between homophilous communication ties and political polarization is thus fundamental because it affects a pillar of democratic regimes: the need for public debate where divergent ideas and interests can be confronted. This research compares the degree of homophily and political polarization in Catalan MPs' Twitter mentions network to Dutch MPs' Twitter mentions network. Exponential random graph models were employed on a one-year sample of mentions among Dutch MPs (N = 7,356) and on a one-year, three-month sample of mentions among Catalan MPs (N = 19,507). Party polarization was measured by calculating the external-internal index of both Twitter mentions networks. Results reveal that the mentions among Catalan MPs are much more homophilous than those among the Dutch MPs. Indeed, there is a positive relationship between the degree of MPs' homophilous communication ties and the degree of political polarization observed in each network

Del monopolio estatal al "monopolio" privado : el rol de la alianza entre el gobierno mexicano y el Grupo Carso en la re-regulación de las telecomunicaciones (1989-2006)

A partir de los años 80, el antiguo régimen internacional de las telecomunicaciones ha sufrido importantes cambios. Los Estados impulsaron un proceso de liberalización de las telecomunicaciones que conllevó la privatización de los monopolios públicos y la desregulación de los monopolios privados del sector. La doctrina neoliberal que propugnaba la reformulación del rol de los Estados frente a sus economías, ha afectado también este sector económico. Estas transformaciones han provocado la aparición de una nueva estructura del régimen internacional de las telecomunicaciones, en la que la Unión Internacional de las Telecomunicaciones (UIT) ha cedido su rol como regulador del sector a una nueva constelación de organizaciones lideradas por la OMC. Además, otra característica relevante de esta nueva estructura es que el poder de los mercados de telecomunicaciones está centralizado en un reducido grupo de firmas multinacionales (FMN). En este contexto, es interesante estudiar las reformas de las telecomunicaciones mexicanas (1989-2006), con el objeto de comprender el actual comportamiento del mercado mexicano de las telecomunicaciones. Primeramente, analizaremos el rol jugado por la alianza establecida entre el sector privado mexicano (el Grupo Carso) y el gobierno central en el proceso de privatización de Telmex (1989-90). Seguidamente, estudiaremos el proceso de liberalización de las telecomunicaciones mexicanas en vistas a demostrar el impacto que ha tenido la consolidación de esta alianza en el mercado mexicano de las telecomunicaciones

Moonwalking together:Tracing Redditors’ digital memory work on Michael Jackson

This article investigates the memory work concerning Michael Jackson on Reddit. By means of their posts, comments, and replies, people contributing to this site – Redditors – enter into a process we call mnemonic stabilization. This is a collaborative process in which networked individuals share their memories about, in this case, Michael Jackson. We argue that this process resembles Jackson’s dance technique called moonwalking: Redditors seem to go back in time, but they continually alter how Jackson is remembered and forgotten, depending on the (personal) context of the present and an imagined future. These theoretical observations are assessed empirically by a content analysis of comments and replies (N = 917) posted on the subreddit /r/MichaelJackson between June 25, 2009, and December 31, 2018. This revealed that most posts with a mnemonic dimension focus on personal memories of Michael Jackson’s music, performances, and (perceived) positive characteristics, rather than on how he should be remembered. These findings can be partially explained by Reddit’s socio-technical infrastructure

Political Polarisation and Network Leaderships in the Catalan Parliamentarians Twitter Network

This article seeks to test if Twitter is opening communication flows between parties and paving the way for the appearance of network leaderships or if it is reducing them to representatives of the same party or ideology and empowering party leaders. The study is based on a dataset spanning from 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2014 which covers all relationships (4,516), retweets (6,045) and mentions (19,507) of Catalan parliamentarians. The data sustain that the political polarisation of Catalan parliamentarians¿ Twitter flows is deeper in the relationship and retweet networks than it is in the mention and that even if party leaders are still at the centre of communication flows, other parliamentarians are taking the floor and becoming network leaders.Este artículo trata de probar si Twitter abre flujos de comunicación entre partidos distintos y allana el camino para la aparición de liderazgos en la red o si los reduce a representantes del mismo partido o ideología y empodera a los líderes del partido. El estudio se basa en un conjunto de datos que abarca desde 1 de enero de 2013 al 31 de marzo de 2014 e incluye todas las relaciones (4516), retweets (6045) y menciones (19.507) de los parlamentarios catalanes. Los datos sostienen que la polarización política de los parlamentarios catalanes en los intercambios de Twitter es más profunda en las redes de relaciones y las redes de retweets que en las redes de menciones y que, aunque los líderes del partido se encuentran todavía en el centro de los flujos de comunicación, otros parlamentarios están tomando la palabra y se están convirtiendo en líderes en la red

Echo Chambers in Parliamentary Twitter Networks:The Catalan Case

Social media is transforming relations among members of parliaments, but are members taking advantage of these new media to broaden their party and ideological communication environment, or they are mainly communicating with other party members and ideologically aligned peers? This article tests whether parliamentarians’ use of Twitter is opening communication flows or confining them to representatives of the same party or ideology. The study is based on a data set spanning the period January 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014, which covers all relations (4,516), retweets (6,045), and mentions (19,507) among Catalan parliamentarians. Our results indicate that communication flows are polarized along party and ideological lines. The degree of polarization of this network depends, however, on where the interactions occur: The relations network is the most polarized; cross-party and cross-ideological interactions are greater in the retweet network and most present in the mention network

Reconquest 2.0:the Spanish far right and the mobilization of historical memory during the 2019 elections

This paper brings together the literature on far right parties, medievalism and opinion leadership in order to more closely interrogate the memory politics of the far right. We address two broad questions: what does the mobilization of distant-past events do in far right discourse? And how do these memories circulate online? We unpack one specific case study: the mobilization of the topic ‘La Reconquista’ (The Reconquest) among the computer-mediated networks of one Europe’s newest national-populist parties: Spain’s VOX. First, we show three strategies through which the Reconquest trope reproduced a conservative historiography that creates a transhistorical, exclusionary and Catholic Spanish nation: the creation of memory sites, the glorification of heroes and a specifically antagonistic memory. Second, we show that the one-word nature of the historical narrative, through its Twitter circulation, gave it a crucial ability to mobilize in the context of an election. Finally, drawing from opinion leader theory we show how these Reconquest narratives were put forward by traditional elite actors such as political parties and newspapers, but relied on the role of ordinary citizens to spread and circulate

Network Shocks and Social Support Among Spanish, Dutch, and Italian WhatsApp Users During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Crisis:An Exploratory Analysis of Digital Social Resilience

This research investigates how people across Europe used WhatsApp to cope with social isolation during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews (10 per country) with young adults (ages 25–49 years) from the urban areas of Barcelona (Spain), Groningen (the Netherlands), and Milan (Italy). Our results reveal that the pandemic shock “turtled up” WhatsApp communications, with individuals falling back on families and close friends (strong ties), from whom they obtained emotional and informational support to cope with the anxieties and fears of the pandemic, thereby increasing their resilience to the crisis. Despite the centrality of strongties, our data also show that it was the persistence of, above all, humorous communication exchanges with acquaintances (weak ties) that helped individuals feel accompanied during the crisis. Furthermore, we found evidence of the emergence of communication with latent ties (e.g., former partners) as an added source of social support