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The paper presents analysis of time evolution within am Internet political forum, characterized by large political differences and high levels of emotions. The study compares samples of discussions gathered at three periods separated by…
The global public sphere has changed dramatically over the past decades: a significant part of public discourse now takes place on algorithmically driven platforms owned by a handful of private companies. Despite its growing importance,…
Cyberbullying and online harassment have serious negative psychological and emotional consequences for the victims, such as decreased life satisfaction, suicidal ideation, self-harming behaviors, depression, anxiety, and others. Most of the…
Recent years have seen a rise in social media platforms that provide peer-to-peer support to individuals suffering from mental distress. Studies on the impact of these platforms have focused on either short-term scales of single-post…
Models of message flows in an artificial group of users communicating via the Internet are introduced and investigated using numerical simulations. We assumed that messages possess an emotional character with a positive valence and that the…
Writing messages is key to expressing feelings. This study adopts cognitive network science to reconstruct how individuals report their feelings in clinical narratives like suicide notes or mental health posts. We achieve this by…
We perform a statistical analysis of emotionally annotated comments in two large online datasets, examining chains of consecutive posts in the discussions. Using comparisons with randomised data we show that there is a high level of…
This paper examines how emotional responses to football matches influence online discourse across digital spaces on Reddit. By analysing millions of posts from dozens of subreddits, it demonstrates that real-world events trigger sentiment…
Recent findings showed that users on Facebook tend to select information that adhere to their system of beliefs and to form polarized groups -- i.e., echo chambers. Such a tendency dominates information cascades and might affect public…
This paper analyses changes in public opinion by tracking political discussions in which people voluntarily engage online. Unlike polls or surveys, our approach does not elicit opinions but approximates what the public thinks by analysing…
Nowadays users get informed and shape their opinion through social media. However, the disintermediated access to contents does not guarantee quality of information. Selective exposure and confirmation bias, indeed, have been shown to play…
Validation of LLM-agent social simulations remains underdeveloped, with most studies relying on subjective assessments or single runs. We address this gap by running 30 independent 30-day simulations of a technology forum modeled on Voat's…
Incivility remains a major challenge for online discussion platforms, to such an extent that even conversations between well-intentioned users can often derail into uncivil behavior. Traditionally, platforms have relied on moderators to --…
Online platforms host a diverse user base, which can be broadly categorized into "specialist users" with focused interests and "generalist users" who engage in a wide range of topics. This study explores the behavioral differences between…
Social media platform design often incorporates explicit signals of positive feedback. Some moderators provide positive feedback with the goal of positive reinforcement, but are often unsure of their ability to actually influence user…
Online health communities provide a knowledge exchange platform for a wide range of diseases and health conditions. Informational and emotional support helps forum participants orient around health issues beyond in-person doctor visits. So…
Social media-transmitted online information, which is associated with emotional expressions, shapes our thoughts and actions. In this study, we incorporate social network theories and analyses and use a computational approach to investigate…
User contributions in the form of posts, comments, and votes are essential to the success of online communities. However, allowing user participation also invites undesirable behavior such as trolling. In this paper, we characterize…
We investigate users' perspectives on an online reflective question activity (RQA) that prompts people to externalize their underlying emotions on a troubling situation. Inspired by principles of cognitive behavioral therapy, our 15-minute…
Statistical methods applied to social media posts shed light on the dynamics of online dialogue. For example, users' wording choices predict their persuasiveness and users adopt the language patterns of other dialogue participants. In this…