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Influence Without Metrics: Analyzing the Impact of Far-Right Users in an Online Discussion Forum
Social Media + Society ( IF 4.636 ) Pub Date : 2021-04-12 , DOI: 10.1177/20563051211008831
Mathilda Åkerlund 1
Affiliation  

The study presented in this article explores the processes through which influence takes shape in eclectic online forums with few vanity metrics. Using a dataset of 7.5 million posts in the large Swedish online discussion forum Flashback, it explores who becomes influential, their strategies for appealing to the community, and others’ support of them. While it has been known that Flashback hosts far-right users and content, the current study shows that these sentiments are not fringe or obscure, but instead seemingly widely supported and influential in the forum. It illustrates that the influential users—those who are supported and acknowledged by others as important—exclusively and continuously expressed far-right ideas and displayed an embeddedness within the far-right, as well as in the forum’s culture. The study finds that despite few visible markers, many users learned to recognize influential users and their far-right content as worthy of support. In the absence of built-in functions, some users engaged in manual “liking” and “sharing” of influential users’ content via their replies, acknowledging it as a way to legitimize them. At the same time, the analysis showcased how a lack of vanity metrics countered potential echo chamber effects in the forum as disliked users—advocating progressive gender and immigration ideas—were unintentionally amplified by those who attempted to silence them. The article also discusses the role of Flashback as a platform in the proliferation of hate.



中文翻译:

没有衡量标准的影响:在线讨论论坛中分析极权用户的影响

本文介绍的研究探索了在很少使用虚荣度指标的折衷在线论坛中影响力形成的过程。在大型瑞典在线讨论论坛Flashback中使用750万个帖子的数据集,它探讨了谁具有影响力,他们吸引社区的策略以及其他人对他们的支持。虽然已经知道闪回托管了非常正确的用户和内容,但当前的研究表明,这些观点并不是边缘或模糊的,而是在论坛中似乎受到广泛支持和影响。它说明,有影响力的用户(得到了其他人的支持和认可很重要)在排他性地,不断地表达了极右思想,并在极右以及论坛文化中表现出了内在性。该研究发现,尽管可见标记很少,但许多用户学会了将有影响力的用户及其最正确的内容识别为值得支持的东西。在没有内置功能的情况下,一些用户通过他们的回复来手动“喜欢”和“共享”有影响力的用户的内容,并承认这是使他们合法化的一种方式。同时,分析显示缺乏虚荣度指标如何抵消论坛中潜在的回声室效应,因为不喜欢的用户(提倡进步的性别和移民观念)被试图使他们沉默的人无意间放大了。本文还讨论了闪回作为仇恨扩散平台的作用。

更新日期:2021-04-12
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