Sci Rep. 2014 May 27;4:4938. doi: 10.1038/srep04938.

Opinion dynamics on interacting networks: media competition and social influence.

Quattrociocchi W1, Caldarelli G2, Scala A3.

Author information

• 11] Laboratory for the modeling of biological and socio-technical systems, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115 USA [2] LIMS the London Institute of Mathematical Sciences, 22 South Audley St Mayfair London W1K 2NY, UK [3] IMT Alti Studi Lucca, piazza S. Ponziano 6, 55100 Lucca, Italy.
• 21] IMT Alti Studi Lucca, piazza S. Ponziano 6, 55100 Lucca, Italy [2] ISC-CNR Physics Dept., Univ. "La Sapienza" Piazzale Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy [3] LIMS the London Institute of Mathematical Sciences, 22 South Audley St Mayfair London W1K 2NY, UK.
• 31] ISC-CNR Physics Dept., Univ. "La Sapienza" Piazzale Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy [2] IMT Alti Studi Lucca, piazza S. Ponziano 6, 55100 Lucca, Italy [3] LIMS the London Institute of Mathematical Sciences, 22 South Audley St Mayfair London W1K 2NY, UK.

Abstract

The inner dynamics of the multiple actors of the informations systems - i.e, T.V., newspapers, blogs, social network platforms, - play a fundamental role on the evolution of the public opinion. Coherently with the recent history of the information system (from few main stream media to the massive diffusion of socio-technical system), in this work we investigate how main stream media signed interaction might shape the opinion space. In particular we focus on how different size (in the number of media) and interaction patterns of the information system may affect collective debates and thus the opinions' distribution. We introduce a sophisticated computational model of opinion dynamics which accounts for the coexistence of media and gossip as separated mechanisms and for their feedback loops. The model accounts also for the effect of the media communication patterns by considering both the simple case where each medium mimics the behavior of the most successful one (to maximize the audience) and the case where there is polarization and thus competition among media memes. We show that plurality and competition within information sources lead to stable configurations where several and distant cultures coexist.