Interactive Behavior in Political Discussions on Twitter: Politicians, Media, and Citizens’ Patterns of Interaction in the 2015 and 2016 Electoral Campaigns in Spain
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Twitter has become a privileged data source for analyzing the behavior of users when interacting online. This research aims to explore the interactive behavior of users in political discussions and the changes in their behavior over time. Understanding the interactive functions of Twitter (retweeting, mentioning, and replying) as digital traces of users’ behavior, we analyze the patterns of interaction of politicians, media, and citizens in two political discussions in Spain during the 2015 and 2016 general elections. Our results confirm previous studies that prove the homophilic behavior of politicians and citizens in political discussions. The networks of interaction, in particular, the retweet network, resemble echo chambers. It also shows that media play the role of weak ties of the networks. The analysis also shows that the patterns of interaction remained stable after the repetition of the election, and only a meager part of the users participating in both discussions changed their behavior. This article aims to contribute to the use of Twitter as a source for understanding people’s interactions is political discussions in social media and their dynamics across time.
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Shared partisanship increases the likelihood of social tie formation on platforms like Twitter, reinforcing homophily.
“Many studies demonstrated that shared partisanship increases the likelihood of social tie formation on platforms like Twitter, reinforcing homophily (e.g., [93][94][95]).”
From A systematic review of echo chamber research: comparative analysis of conceptualizations, operationalizations, and varying outcomes (2025) · cites this paper as [95]
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A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
Lorenz-Spreen, P., Oswald, L., Lewandowsky, S., & Hertwig, R. (2022) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-022-01460-1 · Cited by 348 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Guerrero-Solé, F.
- Affiliations
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Guerrero-Solé, Frederic
- Venue
- Social Media + Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-10
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 4
- ISSN
- 2056-3051 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2900812565
- Cited by
- 75
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 4
- FWCI
- 13.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Social Media + Society (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Repositori digital de la UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Keywords
- Twitter, political debate, interactive behavior, retweets, mentions, homophily, echo chambers, retweet networks, weak ties, media, politicians, citizens, 2015 Spanish general election, 2016 Spanish general election, political campaigns
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