Understanding how retweets influence the behaviors of social networking service users via agent-based simulation

Yizhou Yan,Toshiharu Sugawara,Fujio Toriumi

doi:10.1186/s40649-021-00099-8

Yizhou Yan, Toshiharu Sugawara

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40649-021-00099-8

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Abstract

The retweet is a characteristic mechanism of several social network services/social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Weibo. By retweeting tweet, users can share an article with their friends and followers. However, it is not clear how retweets affect the dominant behaviors of users. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of retweets on the behavior of social media users from the perspective of networked game theory, and how the existence of the retweet mechanism in social media promotes or reduces the willingness of users to post and comment on articles. To address these issues, we propose the retweet reward game model and quote tweet reward game model by adding the retweet and quote tweet mechanisms to a relatively simple social networking service model known as the reward game. Subsequently, we conduct simulation-based experiments to understand the influence of retweets on the user behavior on various networks. It is demonstrated that users will be more willing to post new articles with a retweet mechanism, and quote retweets are more beneficial to users, as users can expect to spread their information and their own comments on already posted articles.

Highlights

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and many other social network services (SNS) on social media platforms have attracted global attention in recent years
The manner in which retweet mechanisms, including quote tweets, influence the user behaviors in social media has not been sufficiently studied to date, it is understandable that retweets improve the spread of information, and facilitate cooperation; that is, they cause users to post articles more frequently
Experimental results for complete graph In the first experiments, we selected the reward game, RT reward game, and quote tweet (QT) reward game instead of the (RT/QT) meta-reward games to study the impact of retweets on the user behavior because of meta-reward games, in which every agent has to the opportunity for meta-rewards, are known to sustain high cooperation and comment rates, and it is difficult to determine how the retweeting mechanism will affect the user behavior

Summary

Introduction

Facebook, Instagram, and many other social network services (SNS) on social media platforms have attracted global attention in recent years. Increasing numbers of people are using these online platforms to post a variety of information, including text, voice, sound, images, and videos, for purposes, such as personal and group communication, education [1], business [2], and political discussions [3]. This informative collection has become a valuable resource and asset generated by numerous social media users. The manner in which retweet mechanisms, including quote tweets, influence the user behaviors in social media has not been sufficiently studied to date, it is understandable that retweets improve the spread of information, and facilitate cooperation; that is, they cause users to post articles more frequently

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