Opinion dynamics of online social network users: a micro-level analysis

In this paper, we present an empirical study of the opinion dynamics a large-scale sample online social network users. We estimate opinions users as continuous scalars based on their subscriptions to information sources and analyze how friendship connections affect these estimations. Distinguishing between positive (toward friends) negative (away from shifts, find that existence magnitude shifts are positively related (largely through linear form or inverted U-shaped form) degree divergence in user friends. Additionally, moderate balance using divergence: if focal friends too similar dissimilar, there is relatively low chance shift.