This workshop, organized by David Garcia and Mark Strembeck, will take place at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna.
Abstract:
From numerous research results in the field of human psychology it is known that emotions significantly affect human communication behavior. Corresponding studies from the fields of psychology and sociology traditionally involve comparatively small groups of several hundred individuals. The widespread availability of so called “online social networks” which, in 2020, connect some hundred million users (e.g. Twitter) up to some billion users (e.g. Facebook), now provide unprecedented possibilities for studying communication behavior.
The workshop will explore how emotions impact communication behavior in social media channels. This includes the use as well as the (un)intended misuse of social media, e.g. for the purpose of swaying the public opinion. Since social media significantly impact public discussions as well as the perception of events in basically all areas of human life, the workshop will also investigate how human users and social bots differ in their communication behavior. Social bots are software programs that automatically produce messages and interact with human users on social media platforms. The investigation of social bot communication behavior is relevant because a number of studies already provided evidence that these software programs sway public discussions and political processes (such as the 2016 US presidential elections or the so called “Brexit” referendum in Great Britain).
If you are interested in participating, please email to office@csh.ac.at.