The Life of a Tie: Social Origins of Network Diversity

• In Event: 40269 - Social Ties, Social Networks, and Social Capital: Origins and Consequences

Abstract

This study examines the survival and evolution of 443K bidirectional mention ties on Twitter by merging datasets collected before 2015 and in the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic (February to June, 2020). We hypothesize that strong pre-existing ties, marked by frequent communication and shared identities, endure and tolerate cognitive and stance differences over time. Our findings show that surviving ties are stronger than average pre-2015 ties but exhibit greater cognitive distance in COVID-19 discussions, suggesting that strong ties can tolerate different and even opposing opinions on contentious topics. This challenges traditional models of social influence and homophily, which predict increased cognitive similarity within strong ties. The findings imply the potential for old ties to function as network bridges, reducing political divides by connecting dissimilar social groups.

Authors

• Patrick Park, Carnegie Mellon University

• Henry Xu

• Kathleen M. Carley, Carnegie Mellon University