Abstract

This project aims to investigate the demographic characteristics of users who shared mainstream and hyperpartisan news in Brazil in 2017 and 2018. In a previous investigation, we found a polarized structure of interactions with Facebook pages dedicated to seeding hyperpartisan news links. Another previous study we conducted with a limited sample showed a significant difference in the age of those interacting with Facebook pages seeding mainstream media news links and those interacting with Facebook pages seeding hyperpartisan news links (those interacting with mainstream media pages were considerably younger). These findings, although limited, were consistent with other data collected with surveys in polarized mobilizations that showed that the protesters’ age in such demonstrations is typically over 35. By using the Facebook dataset of shares for 2017 and 2018, we want to verify if our preliminary findings are confirmed. We also intend to analyze other characteristics of the sharing of mainstream and hyperpartisan media news links such as reach, diffusion, interaction, and consumption.

Principal Investigator

Pablo Ortellado

Professor of Public Policy, University of São Paulo

Bio

Pablo Ortellado is a public policy professor at the University of São Paulo. His research interests lie in the intersection between social mobilization, public policy, and digital communication. He is the director of the Research Group on Public Policies for Information Access and an op-ed columnist at the Brazilian daily Folha de S. Paulo.

Participants

Márcio Moretto Ribeiro

Professor of Information Science, University of São Paulo

Bio

Márcio Moretto Ribeiro is an information science professor at the University of São Paulo. He has a PhD in computer science with an awarded thesis on knowledge representation and reasoning. He was also a researcher at the Center of Logic, Epistemology and History of Science at the University of Campinas. He codirects the Research Center on Public Policy for Information Access. His main line of investigation is on social media analysis, the polarization of the public sphere, and fake news.