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It is no secret that U.S. politics is polarized. An experiment conducted by MIT researchers now shows just how deeply political partisanship directly influences people’s behavior within online social networks.
Deploying Twitter bots to help examine the online behavior of real people, the researchers found that the likelihood that individuals will follow other accounts on Twitter triples when there appears to be a common partisan bond involved.
“When partisanship is matched, people are three times more likely to follow other accounts back,” says MIT professor David Rand, co-author of a new paper detailing the study’s results. “That’s a really big effect, and clear evidence of how important a role partisanship plays.”
MIT Sloan study finds strong evidence of political bias in formation of social media ties
Democrats and Republicans equally favor interactions with co-partisans online
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ After the recent presidential election, political divisiveness is a more significant issue than ever in the U.S. But how much does political party affiliation actually impact social relationships? A recent experiment conducted on Twitter by MIT Sloan School of Management Prof. David Rand and MIT Sloan Research Affiliate Mohsen Mosleh, who is also a professor at the University of Exeter Business School, shows that politics matter a lot when strangers are forming new social ties. They found that Democrats and Republicans are equally likely to favor people who share their party affiliation when deciding who to follow.