Title:
|
To thread or not to thread: the impact of conversation threading on online discussion
|
Author:
|
Aragón, Pablo; Gómez, Vicenç; Kaltenbrunner, Andreas
|
Abstract:
|
Comunicació presentada a la Eleventh International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, celebrada els dies 15 a 18 de maig de 2017 a Montreal, Canadà. |
Abstract:
|
Online discussion is essential for the communication and collaboration
of online communities. The reciprocal exchange
of messages between users that characterizes online discussion
can be represented in many different ways. While some
platforms display messages chronologically using a simple
linear interface, others use a hierarchical (threaded) interface
to represent more explicitly the structure of the discussion.
Although the type of representation has been shown to affect
communication, to the best of our knowledge, the impact of
using either one or the other has not yet been investigated in
a large and mature online community.
In this work we analyze Menéame, a popular Spanish social
news platform which recently transitioned from a linear to
a hierarchical interface, becoming an ideal research opportunity
for this purpose. Using interrupted time series analysis
and regression discontinuity design, we observe an abrupt
and significant increase in social reciprocity after the adoption
of a threaded interface. We furthermore extend state-ofthe-art
generative models of discussion threads by including
reciprocity, a fundamental feature to explain better the structure
of the discussions, both before and after the change in the
interface. |
Abstract:
|
This work is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence Programme (MDM-2015-0502) and the EU project D-CENT (FP7/CAPS 610349). |
Subject(s):
|
-Mitjans de comunicació social |
Rights:
|
© 2017, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (www.aaai.org)
|
Document type:
|
Conference Object Article - Accepted version |
Published by:
|
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
|
Share:
|
|