Call: "Online Social Networks and Political Communication"

Please consider submitting a paper abstract to the session on Online Social Networks and Political Communication at the INSNA Sunbelt Conference 2022, to be held 12-16 July in Cairns, Australia in hybrid format (https://www.sunbelt2022.org/).

Session organisers are: Robert Ackland (Australian National University), Jonathan Zhu (City University of Hong Kong)

Online social networks such as Twitter and Reddit have become important platforms for political communication. While online discussion environments can promote consensus building among people with different opinions, in recent years they have been increasingly identified with problems including misinformation, political polarisation, socialbots and coordinated inauthentic behaviour. This session is seeking contributions involving the use of social network analysis in the context of analysing political communication in online social networks. Suggested topics include: measuring political deliberation in online conversations, the existence and impact of echo chambers, inauthentic coordinated behaviour (measured via e.g. co-retweet networks), the role and impact of socialbots in political conversations, measuring influence in political discussions online.

Submission URL: https://www.sunbelt2022.org/abstracts

Abstracts (200 words max.) are due 6 February 2022.