https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds6
Regular article
Partisan asymmetries in online political activity
1
Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research, School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47408, USA
2
College of Computer and Information Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
* e-mail: b.goncalves@neu.edu
Received:
20
January
2012
Accepted:
18
June
2012
Published online:
18
June
2012
We examine partisan differences in the behavior, communication patterns and social interactions of more than 18,000 politically-active Twitter users to produce evidence that points to changing levels of partisan engagement with the American online political landscape. Analysis of a network defined by the communication activity of these users in proximity to the 2010 midterm congressional elections reveals a highly segregated, well clustered, partisan community structure. Using cluster membership as a high-fidelity (87% accuracy) proxy for political affiliation, we characterize a wide range of differences in the behavior, communication and social connectivity of left- and right-leaning Twitter users. We find that in contrast to the online political dynamics of the 2008 campaign, right-leaning Twitter users exhibit greater levels of political activity, a more tightly interconnected social structure, and a communication network topology that facilitates the rapid and broad dissemination of political information.
© The Author(s), 2012
