Measuring the Ease of Communication in Bipartite Social Endorsement Networks: A Proxy to Study the Dynamics of Political Polarization

ABSTRACT

In this work, complex weighted bipartite social networks are developed to efficiently analyze, project and extract network knowledge. Specifically, to assess the overall ease of communication between the different network sub-clusters, a proper projection and measurement method is developed in which the defined measurement is a function of the network structure and preserves maximum relevant information. Using simulations, it is shown how the introduced measurement correlates with the concept of political polarization, after which the proposed method is applied to Facebook networks to demonstrate its ability to capture the polarization dynamics over time. The method successfully captured the increasing political polarization between the Alternative für Deutschland's (AfD) supporters and the supporters of other political parties, which is in line with previous studies on the rise of the AfD in Germany's political sphere.

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Index Terms

• General and reference

  • Cross-computing tools and techniques

    • Estimation

    • Metrics

• Human-centered computing

  • Collaborative and social computing

    • Collaborative and social computing design and evaluation methods

      • Social network analysis

    • Collaborative and social computing systems and tools

      • Social networking sites

• Networks

  • Network performance evaluation

    • Network simulations

  • Network types

    • Overlay and other logical network structures

      • Social media networks