Digital Persuasion: Understanding the Impact of Online Influencers on Public Opinion

2026-09-13

AI Summary

研究使用Friedkin-Johnsen模型框架，通过操纵初始意见实验，评估了网络影响者对社区整体意见的影响，验证了其在意见动态中的重要作用。

Abstract

The studying of opinion dynamics and its propagation within social networks is crucial for addressing a wide range of challenges, including political polarization, public health, and marketing strategies. In this work, we study the problem of opinion dynamics by proposing a framework based on Friedkin-Johnsen (FJ) to identifies influential users and study their impact on dynamics opinions of community. The FJ model assume each individual have two opinions: initial and expressed. Through a series of initial opinion manipulation experiments, the proposed framework assesses the impact of influential versus random users on the overall community opinion. The proposed framework is validated using a tweet dataset representing the U.S. presidential election. The results shows that influencers with highest influencing score, significantly shift the overall community opinion. Moreover, the results shows that the impact of influencers not limited to direct neighbors , but beyond it, to their neighbors of neighbors . This study demonstrates how digital influencers on social media can shape public opinion regarding a subject or cause.

Problem

• opinion dynamics
• influential users
• public opinion
• social networks
• Friedkin-Johnsen model

Innovation

• Friedkin-Johnsen model
• opinion dynamics
• influential users
• social networks
• public opinion