Political Debate on Social Media: Theory and Evidence
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Series
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Speaker(s)Ole Jann (CERGE-EI and Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic)
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FieldBehavioral Economics
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LocationUniversity of Amsterdam, Roeterseilandcampus, E5.22
Amsterdam -
Date and time
October 24, 2024
16:00 - 17:15
Abstract: We investigate online political debate with a theoretical model and an original, large-scale dataset. In our model, debaters can use several types of strategic communication but also derive "expressive utility" from speaking their mind. We examine how social media users try to convince others and "win" debates by deploying arguments, hyperlinks, media and different styles of language. Our empirical analysis considers almost 140,000 Twitter interactions between users whose ideological stance we can estimate, using a novel methodology. We use our model to interpret this data and document patterns that are consistent with the predictions of the model.