Ever considered how a celebrity's tweet might influence our views on vaccines? Researchers in Indonesia set out to explore this idea. They selected 46 prominent figures and groups with a combined following of 7. 8 million people. The goal? To tweet about vaccines and gauge the impact on public opini
Have you ever wondered how to combine the thoughts of numerous experts into one solid point of view? A clever method has been suggested to do just that. Imagine experts constantly tweaking their opinions based on what others think. Each time they update, they give more weight to opinions that are si
Opinion summarisation is about condensing long texts into shorter versions that keep the main message and opinions intact. But what happens when summaries only reflect the most popular views? That’s what researchers looked into by examining three hotly debated topics related to COVID-19. They found
Ever wondered how opinions spread like wildfire? It turns out, it’s not just about what we hear, but who we hear it from. Mass media theory says that opinions go through a two-step process. First, influencers, or opinion leaders, get the message from the original sources. Then, they pass it on to th
Imagine a lot of people, each with their own thoughts. They're all linked, like a big social network. The Deffuant model helps us understand how their opinions change over time. Here's an interesting fact: their thoughts aren't just numbers; they're specific and can vary by topic. When they chat wit
Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the topic of Finland joining NATO was a hot debate. People were divided into two camps: those who supported joining NATO and those who were against it. This debate was mainly happening on Finnish Twitter. Researchers looked at who was retweeting what on
Bethenny Frankel, known for her stint on "Real Housewives of New York City, " recently shared her thoughts on Kamala Harris's presidential campaign strategy. In a casual video on her Instagram, Frankel criticized Harris for spending time with celebrities instead of focusing on other aspects of the c
Did you know that user opinions on Facebook can point businesses towards profitable partnerships? It might sound like a stretch, but a recent study explored just that. Instead of relying on traditional methods, researchers turned to social media to find strategic business connections. They developed
Ever wondered how experts manage to agree on a topic when they all have different opinions? There's a clever method called "continuous update" that helps them find common ground. Here's how it works: Each expert listens to their peers and tweaks their view based on what they hear. The more similar t
Imagine you're in a big group, and someone important—say, a news anchor—has an update. That person tells a few influential friends, who then share it with everyone else. This is how messages and opinions move around, according to something called mass media theory. Most models only look at how opini
