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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Scaling Expertise: A Note On Homophily In Online Discourse And Content Moderation, Dylan Weber
Scaling Expertise: A Note On Homophily In Online Discourse And Content Moderation, Dylan Weber
New England Journal of Public Policy
It is now empirically clear that the structure of online discourse tends toward homophily; users strongly prefer to interact with content and other users that are similar to them. I review the evidence for the ubiquity of homophily in discourse and highlight some of its worst effects including narrowed information landscape for users and increased spread of misinformation. I then discuss the current state of moderation frameworks at large social media platforms and how they are ill-equipped to deal with structural trends in discourse such as homophily. Finally, I sketch a moderation framework based on a principal of “scaling expertise” …
Bounded Confidence: How Ai Could Exacerbate Social Media’S Homophily Problem, Dylan Weber, Scott Atran, Rich Davis
Bounded Confidence: How Ai Could Exacerbate Social Media’S Homophily Problem, Dylan Weber, Scott Atran, Rich Davis
New England Journal of Public Policy
The advent of the Internet was heralded as a revolutionary development in the democratization of information. It has emerged, however, that online discourse on social media tends to narrow the information landscape of its users. This dynamic is driven by the propensity of the network structure of social media to tend toward homophily; users strongly prefer to interact with content and other users that are similar to them. We review the considerable evidence for the ubiquity of homophily in social media, discuss some possible mechanisms for this phenomenon, and present some observed and hypothesized effects. We also discuss how the …