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from the hanging-out-with-like-minded-people-is-boring dept.
[translation mine] Arab Spring 2011: Young people take to the streets, they fight for a better life. Only when the movement grows do older people gain the courage to join them.
Why did the young people see the possibility for change, but not their elders? Network researchers believe to have found a reason: the young people were able to imagine that the majority of the people stood behind them. They were under the so-called "Illusion of Majority."
People orient themselves to the majority. However, what they take to be the majority is distorted through social networks, says Kristina Lerman of the University of Southern California: "Under certain requirements a minority opinion can appear to be extremely popular."
That depends on the structure of networks. The users don't know all participants, only a part - those people with whom they're connected. Whatever the majority of their friends do, they conclude the majority of participants do. They are then readier to join the perceived majority.
People who are particularly connected to others play an especially important role in the phenomenon of opinion formation. The full paper from Kristina Lerman is here.
Social networks mediated by technology can be disrupted by tech-savvy governments. As more social connections become purely online, will revolution in the future become impossible?
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @06:32AM
Young people don't have a lifetime of memories of failure. Yet.
Illusion of Majority is total fucking bullshit. They haven't experienced enough discouragement. Yet.
Why do asshole academics write complete shit I wonder. They still think they can impress someone because they haven't pissed off enough of their stupid moron colleagues to be discredited. Yet.
Why do I even bother commenting on this fucking crap I wonder? So I can get modded the fuck down. I'm just not old enough and bitter enough and cynical enough. YET.
Nope. Try again, fuckface. I WILL NOT orient MY SELF to your MORON MAJORITY. Fuck you. All of you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @06:36AM
Have a Bad Night.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @08:07AM
probably that time of the month
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday August 29 2015, @05:41PM
I would say in many cases it's more that the older people have fallen for the illusion of minority. Other than Wall Street bankers, does anyopne REALLY trust Wall Street these days? Even people on Wall Street don't trust Wall Street.
Does anyone out there REALLY think "it's only fair that I pay 4 times as much for healthcare as anyone else in the world. Perhaps I dhould be paying more!"?
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Saturday August 29 2015, @10:35PM
Stupid delusional youngsters. Everything would be so much better if they just listened to and did what their elders told them.