Accelerating dynamics of collective attention

Lorenz-Spreen, Philipp; Mønsted, Bjarke Mørch; Hövel, Philipp; Lehmann, Sune

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09311-w

Cited by 304Complex Network Analysis TechniquesComplex Systems and Time Series AnalysisDigital Media and Philosophy

Accelerating dynamics of collective attention

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Lorenz-Spreen, Philipp, Mønsted, Bjarke Mørch, Hövel, Philipp, Lehmann, Sune·2019·Nature Communications

DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-09311-wPMC PMC6465266

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Abstract

With news pushed to smart phones in real time and social media reactions spreading across the globe in seconds, the public discussion can appear accelerated and temporally fragmented. In longitudinal datasets across various domains, covering multiple decades, we find increasing gradients and shortened periods in the trajectories of how cultural items receive collective attention. Is this the inevitable conclusion of the way information is disseminated and consumed? Our findings support this hypothesis. Using a simple mathematical model of topics competing for finite collective attention, we are able to explain the empirical data remarkably well. Our modeling suggests that the accelerating ups and downs of popular content are driven by increasing production and consumption of content, resulting in a more rapid exhaustion of limited attention resources. In the interplay with competition for novelty, this causes growing turnover rates and individual topics receiving shorter intervals of collective attention.

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Authors: Lorenz-Spreen, P., Mønsted, B. M., Hövel, P., & Lehmann, S.
Affiliations: Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE)
Technical University of Denmark (DK)
University College Cork (IE)
University of Copenhagen (DK)
Corresponding author: Hövel, Philipp
Lehmann, Sune
ORCID: Lorenz-Spreen, Philipp
Mønsted, Bjarke Mørch
Hövel, Philipp
Lehmann, Sune
Venue: Nature Communications
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2019-04-15
Volume: 10
Issue: 1
Pages: 1759-1759
ISSN: 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09311-w
PMC: PMC6465266
OpenAlex: W2939088842
Cited by: 304
References: 38
Citations by year: 2026: 46 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 6
FWCI: 14.47
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: gold
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (tdm)
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (vor)
Locations: Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (acceptedVersion)
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Cork Open Research Archive (University College Cork, Ireland) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Topics: Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Network Analysis Techniques
Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Complex Systems and Time Series Analysis
Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Digital Media and Philosophy
Keywords: collective attention, attention dynamics, cultural artifacts, popularity, social media
MeSH terms: Attention, Humans, Models, Theoretical, Information Dissemination, Social Media

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