Effect of the media on the opinion dynamics in online social networks

Abstract

The media plays an important role in the process of opinion evolution. It can promote the spread of opinions and make netizens reach consensus towards the specific topic. To study the critical role of the media in the evolution of opinions, we constructed a mathematical model of opinion dynamics under the influence of the media. Through mathematical analysis, we can get analytical solutions which are individuals’ opinion values in the equilibrium and interval of the convergence time. We also employed an online network topology from a real social platform for numerical simulation to verify the theoretical solutions. It found that the participation of the media greatly accelerated the dissemination of opinions. The supporting proportion for the media’s opinion is ramped up quickly when intervention time of the media reaches a certain value which we thought this time as best intervention time. When network size is larger, agents will be more negative in equilibrium. Even intervention time is longer, agents still cannot support the media. With extreme initial opinions and self-confidence of all agents, we found that the media can better influence fully stubborn agents than flexible agents. At the same time, the media can better change flexible agents positions than stubborn agents.