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Bubble Effect Induced by Recommendation Systems in a Simple Social Media Model

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Complex Networks & Their Applications X (COMPLEX NETWORKS 2021)

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 1073))

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Abstract

We investigate the influence of a recommendation system on the formation of communities in a simulated social media system.

When the recommendation system is initialized with a limited number of random posts, and there is strong selection of correlated users, and therefore communities, not present when examining the internal factors of participating people, arise .

This happens even when people are immutable, but are exposed only to messages coming from people that are correlated to them, according to past messages. When people are let free to evolve, reducing their cognitive dissonance, true isolated communities appear, causing the filter bubble effect.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy and CSDC, University of Florence, via G. Sansone 1, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Franco Bagnoli, Guido de Bonfioli Cavalcabo & Benedetto Casu

  2. Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures and Psychology, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Andrea Guazzini

  3. INFN, sez. Firenze, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Franco Bagnoli

Authors
  1. Franco Bagnoli
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  2. Guido de Bonfioli Cavalcabo
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  3. Benedetto Casu
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  4. Andrea Guazzini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Franco Bagnoli .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, Alimentaria y de Biosistemas Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Rosa Maria Benito

  2. IUT Lumière, University of Lyon, Bron Cedex, France

    Chantal Cherifi

  3. LE2I, UFR Sciences et Techniques, University of Burgundy, Dijon, France

    Hocine Cherifi

  4. Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Compl, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, Madrid, Spain

    Esteban Moro

  5. Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Luis M. Rocha

  6. Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Tarragona, Spain

    Marta Sales-Pardo

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Bagnoli, F., de Bonfioli Cavalcabo, G., Casu, B., Guazzini, A. (2022). Bubble Effect Induced by Recommendation Systems in a Simple Social Media Model. In: Benito, R.M., Cherifi, C., Cherifi, H., Moro, E., Rocha, L.M., Sales-Pardo, M. (eds) Complex Networks & Their Applications X. COMPLEX NETWORKS 2021. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 1073. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93413-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93413-2_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-93412-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-93413-2

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