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Quantifying opinion homophily in online social networks from a bounded confidence perspective
Linköping University, Department of Electrical Engineering, Automatic Control. Linköping University, Faculty of Science & Engineering. Wuhan Univ, Peoples R China.
Univ Napoli Federico II, Italy.
Univ Sannio, Italy.
Natl Res Council CNR, Italy.
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2026 (English)In: Communications Physics, E-ISSN 2399-3650, Vol. 9, no 1, article id 240Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Homophily is pervasive in online social media. While many empirical studies have relied on external sociodemographic traits to investigate it, significantly less is known about homophily at the cognitive level, that is, at the level of shared opinions or values. For such "value homophily", we study interval-based patterns of opinion homophily from a bounded confidence perspective. We consider three heterogeneous datasets from Reddit and Twitter covering polarizing issues, with user opinions quantified via sentiment analysis and fact-checking, and analyze the interaction networks formed by weaker (reply-based) and stronger (follow-based) social ties. Our findings show that users' interaction neighborhoods are significantly more concentrated in opinion space than expected by chance, with tie strength and issue polarization further amplifying this effect. Moreover, users often exhibit asymmetric tolerance ranges, with asymmetry typically directed toward locally mainstream positions rather than more radical or opposing ones. These findings support a bounded confidence interpretation of value homophily and provide a basis for future studies of exposure and polarization.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
NATURE PORTFOLIO , 2026. Vol. 9, no 1, article id 240
National Category
Media and Communication Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-226616DOI: 10.1038/s42005-026-02760-yISI: 001822844800001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105044964360OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-226616DiVA, id: diva2:2092573
Note

Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council [2020-03701, 2024-04772]; ELLIIT framework program at Linkping University; Swedish Research Council [2024-04772] Funding Source: Swedish Research Council

Available from: 2026-08-17 Created: 2026-08-17 Last updated: 2026-08-17

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CiteExportLink to record
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