Abstract
In this study, we examine the characteristics of online debate networks. We empirically investigate the debate networks formed by three hot threads from Tianya Forum at individual, whole-network and triad levels. At the individual level, the statistical analysis reveals that people participate different threads about one issue; authors reply to themselves; the authors of the original posts are the core of the interaction; we rank the indegree value and betweenness value of the authors, and find that they are not consistent in sequence. At the whole-network level, the structural indices reveal that the stances of the original posts affect the debate networks. At the triad level, the proportions of coded triads reveal that the common forms in debate networks are mutual dyads; the proportions of triadic closures reveal that relations between participants are different in the two camps; and the balanced triads between camps are more than those within camps.
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Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61473284 and 71371107).
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Wang, C., Tang, X. (2016). The Online Debate Networks Analysis: A Case Study of Debates at Tianya Forum. In: Chen, J., Nakamori, Y., Yue, W., Tang, X. (eds) Knowledge and Systems Sciences. KSS 2016. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 660. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2857-1_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2857-1_12
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