Opinion dynamics on the internet

Abstract

The world is rapidly moving to an information society. Many individuals are using smart devices and online social networks to acquire information and share opinions. The Internet and information technologies have shown tremendous potential for economic growth and social integration. Business organizations cannot overlook online strategies, and the Internet is also playing a role of public sphere. The Internet provides foundation for transforming current mass-media-centered one-way communication into horizontal two-way communication. This study aims to investigate the effects of change of communication environment on public opinion formation. Opinion dynamics is a field of research which studies how diverse opinions become integrated into a single consensus or fragmented into several opinions through interactions of individuals. Most of the prior studies on opinion dynamics assumed a synchronous one-to-one communication such as face-to-face conversation. However, with the transition to information society, individuals increasingly move to online environment where most interactions are asynchronous one-to-many communication. This study developed opinion dynamics models for the online environment in two perspectives. At the individual level, the Internet enables individuals to acquire anonymity with ease. At the society level, the Internet brings about digital divide. The study comprises of the following two essays. The first essay proposed an opinion dynamics model for an online environment where anonymous agents and real name agents are mixed by extending Deffuant model. This is the first attempt to develop an opinion dynamics model incorporating online anonymity. Unlike prior binary opinion dynamics models, this study considered an opinion as two dimensional. It assumed that an opinion comprises of a subjective dimension and an objective dimension. The simulation results demonstrates that anonymity is effective in a closed society where individuals ignore oth...