Summary information

Study title

The Power of Social Networks and Social Media’s Filter Bubble in Shaping National Identities: An Agent-Based Model, 2019-2022

Creator

Chueca Del Cerro, C, Durham University

Study number / PID

856587 (UKDA)

10.5255/UKDA-SN-856587 (DOI)

Data access

Open

Series

Not available

Abstract

These are the modeling outputs from the ABM simulations included on the paper by the same title as this data collection that was awarded best PhD paper award at the Social Simulation conference September 4-8 2022 in Milan. The model developed in this paper explained the national identity dynamics in a context where social networks and social media platforms were explicitly modelled. This allowed to test the effects and resulting changes in national identities depending on the social networks and social media filter bubble conditions. Additionally, an empirically-informed version of the model was created with political attitudes survey data from the Catalan Centre of Opinion Studies 2011 to contextualise the model in Catalonia where there's an ongoing secessionist movement. This increases the validity of the model as it represents a population such as the Catalan one.Much of the recent debate in political sciences has been regarding the role social media's filtering algorithms play in the emergence of polarisation as well as the impact of the so-called echo chambers in this process. Social simulation scholars have provided valuable insights into the subject through opinion dynamics models and agent-based modelling approaches. While these models continue to be relevant, national identity polarisation remains an unsolved puzzle, especially in the current media environment of social media platforms. This article proposes a social simulation approach to the topic of opinion dynamics from a political communication perspective to understand how social network configurations and the media environment contribute to the emergence of national identity polarisation. We built an agent-based simulation model of national identity dynamics with a multilayer multiplex network of interacting agents in a hybrid media environment of both, traditional media and social media platforms. We use the Catalan secessionist movement to ground and contextualise our model. Using this...
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Topics

Methodology

Data collection period

01/09/2019 - 30/11/2022

Country

Not Applicable

Time dimension

Not available

Analysis unit

Individual
Event/process
Time unit

Universe

Not available

Sampling procedure

Not available

Kind of data

Numeric

Data collection mode

The data was produced by NetLogo Behaviour Space, imported into RStudio for data cleaning, preparation and analyses. An agent-based model in NetLogo produced these data.

Funding information

Grant number

2238184

Access

Publisher

UK Data Service

Publication year

2023

Terms of data access

The Data Collection is available to any user without the requirement for registration for download/access.

Related publications

Not available