Information propagation process and social influence by social media: An empirical study based on large scale data

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25285181
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Social psychology
• Research Institution: Kwansei Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: MIURA Asako 関西学院大学, 文学部, 教授 (30273569)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 小森 政嗣 大阪電気通信大学, 情報通信工学部, 教授 (60352019) ; 松村 真宏 大阪大学, 経済学研究科(研究院), 准教授 (10379159)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): HIRAISHI Kai 慶應義塾大学, 文学部, 准教授 (50343108)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: ソーシャルメディア / ビッグデータ / 情報伝播 / ネットワーク / 社会的影響

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, from the perspective of psychology and informatics, we analyzed information propagated on social media at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake. We focused on the network structure (what kind of mechanism supports propagation) and information value (what kind of risk information is easy to propagate). Based on the results, we examined the social influences of such information propagation. The analysis targets are Japanese tweets posted on Twitter before and after the disaster.
The resules shows that a strong anxious feeling enhanced the diffusiveness of the information, and this trend was shown to be prominent in the information provided by the personal media. In addition, it was suggested that users with low center of network or mutuality are more likely to spread risk information.

Free Research Field

社会心理学