iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 19/03/2026

Lots of implications for future work wrt causality, effect magnitude of different actor dissemination, etc. LOTS more details in the paper, but please ask me stuff!

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 19/03/2026

Overall, science communication is complex and involves multiple actors, even within the same platform. So there's potential for informational funnels to pass highly selective science through each pipeline stage (superspreaders -> media -> general public)

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 19/03/2026

Peaks in superspreader activity tend to precede peaks in media activity; suggests that conversations take place on Twitter before they are picked up by the news, but this is by no means a strict causal pathway

A figure showing a precedence network between contrarian superspreaders, conformist superspreaders, low-trust news outlets, and high-trust news outlets. Both types of superspreaders precede both types of news most of the time. News outlets typically only precede each other.

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 19/03/2026

There is some crossover in the activity of superspreaders and news media. Looking at superspreader-media outlet neighbors (where neighbors = share similar papers), conformist superspreaders align with mainstream media; contrarians align with pseudoscience/conspiratorial media

Violin plot that shows the kinds of media outlet neighbors for conformist and contrarian superspreaders. Whereas conformists mostly align with high-trust, mainstream media outlets, contrarians mostly share similar papers with low-trust media outlets, including pseudoscientific and conspiratorial outlets.

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 19/03/2026

Around ~20% of superspreaders are COVID contrarians. The coordinated network we detect retweets these contrarians almost exclusively (many are also MDs, scientists, etc). Further analyses show that the coordinated accounts are not bots, but difficult to ascribe intent beyond that

Two bar charts comparing who the coordinated network retweets, and who the rest of the network retweets. The coordinated network focuses its retweets around contrarian superspreaders (and some other contrarian users). The rest of the network predominantly retweets conformist (non-contrarian) users, with conformist superspreaders being the most-retweeted overall in this network.

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 19/03/2026

We also find "superspreaders": the most active paper disseminators whose posts receive the most engagement. These are mostly credentialed experts (scientists, MDs, etc.) who act as science communicators, with substantially larger followings than other accounts. BUT: ⬇️

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 19/03/2026

Based on common retweets made close in time to each other, we find a coordinated network of accounts whose activity predominantly centers around vaccines/boosters, herd immunity, and excess mortality conversations. These accounts are overall younger than the rest.

A figure showing a coordinated retweet network. The network consists of six sub-clusters, with one being much larger than the rest.

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 19/03/2026

We look at four main types of actors: coordinated accounts, superspreaders, bots, and news media. Our goal is to characterize their activity, but also to see how they interact with each other within Twitter and beyond.

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 19/03/2026

Our new paper, "Information Pathways in Online Science Communication: The Role of Platform Actors and News Media" (w/ Giuseppe Russo & @luceriluc.bsky.social) has just been accepted at ICWSM 2026! Preprint: arxiv.org/pdf/2603.17249 Here are the main takeaways 🧵

arxiv.org

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Reposted by Alexandros Efstratiou

University of Washington Information School @ischool.uw.edu · 22/01/2026

@opb.org interviewed @msaveski.bsky.social about his research. "What we found when we surveyed [participants] at the end of the study was that, if polarizing content appeared lower in their feeds, they felt about two degrees warmer towards the other party," he said. www.opb.org/article/2026...

opb.org

University of Washington collaborates on study using AI to reduce political polarization on social media

A University of Washington scientist explains how AI could be used to reduce political polarization on social media and perhaps give users greater control over their feeds.

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 10/12/2025

Lots more analyses and discussion in the paper. Any questions or comments, please get in touch!

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 10/12/2025

Overall, this may create perverse incentives for gaining engagement on the platform. Moreover, data access conversations often call out "permissible research" by platforms (h/t Ethan Zuckerman). Given owner's outsized influence, we may also need to start explicitly addressing "permissible reach"

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 10/12/2025

More visible accounts in engagement feed are more agitating, less political, get attention from Elon Musk, are not legacy-verified, and are not left-leaning. Other typical effects (e.g., lower exposure for links) also replicated. Right-leaning benefits disappear when controlling for these

A plot showing that accounts with increased visibility in the engagement feed are not legacy-verified, not left-leaning, get more attention from Elon Musk, are more agitating, less political, and post fewer links.

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 10/12/2025

Algorithm leads to more political cross-cutting exposure, but also much more centralization. Latter largely driven by outsized increased visibility of platform owner in engagement feed. Right-leaning accounts also enjoy increased visibility; explains increased x-cutting exposure (mostly one-sided)

Plots showing distributions of how centrality differs between engagement and chronological feeds. In the engagement feed, centrality is higher for right-leaning accounts and is much more skewed towards the platform's owner, Elon Musk, compared to the chronological feed.

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 10/12/2025

Using existing data collected Feb 2023 (after Musk's Twitter acquisition, before X re-brand), we compare the accounts that users see between reverse-chronological and engagement (algorithmic) feeds. Time period aligns closely w/ Twitter's release of its recommendation system code

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Reposted by Alexandros Efstratiou

Center for an Informed Public @cip.uw.edu · 09/12/2025

🧵A new tool developed by researchers, including @cip.uw.edu faculty member @msaveski.bsky.social, shows it is possible to reduce partisan rancor in an X feed — without removing political posts and without the direct cooperation of the platform. (1/3) www.washington.edu/news/2025/12...

washington.edu

Social media research tool can reduce polarization — it could also lead to more user control over algorithms

A web-based method was shown to mitigate political polarization on X by nudging antidemocratic and extremely negative partisan posts lower in a user’s feed. The tool, which is independent of the...

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 21/11/2025

My newest paper "On YouTube Search API Use in Research" is now published at dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...! I untangle some of the mechanisms with which the YouTube Search API samples results, and document limitations with some established research strategies in working with the API.

dl.acm.org

On YouTube Search API Use in Research | Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Internet Measurement Conference

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Reposted by Alexandros Efstratiou

Savvas Zannettou @zsavvas90.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

⏰ Less than a week to apply to our PhD position on AI-driven Cybersecurity & Cybersafety! Don't miss out—apply now and make the internet safer. 🚀👩‍💻 Job Link 👇

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 04/12/2024

Huge news for science communication/metascience research!

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 25/11/2024

This Friday (Nov 29th), I'll be speaking at the Oxford Internet Institute about our latest paper on how COVID-19 science was misrepresented on Twitter, leading to false consensus effects. The event is remote, and you can register at: www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news-events/...

oii.ox.ac.uk

OII | From tribes to tropes: Network polarisation and false consensus around COVID-19 science

In this talk, we cover recent work showing that COVID-19 science was vastly misrepresented on the Twitter platform, owing mostly to a large misinformation cluster that engaged in selective citation of...

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Reposted by Alexandros Efstratiou

Martin Saveski @msaveski.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

[Please reshare] I’m recruiting PhD students to work with me at UW! I’m looking for students passionate about developing new *social media algorithms*, both broadly and within the scope of this NSF grant: tinyurl.com/395yfphd More info: faculty.washington.edu/msaveski/ cc @uwischool.bsky.social

UW campus, Drumheller Fountain and Rainier Vista.

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Reposted by Alexandros Efstratiou

Mallory Harris, PhD @malar0ne.bsky.social · 10/07/2024

In case you missed our panel today on how counter-consensus communities (mis)use science, check out the recording: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIWz... Ft. @alextheefstra.bsky.social @beeeeeers.bsky.social and Rod Abhari SciSky EpiSky MedSky

youtube.com

Misrepresenting Science

Counter-consensus communities will frequently use selective and deceptive citation of the scientific literature as evidence for their views. How can we make ...

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 23/01/2024

Excited to announce that my paper has just been accepted at The Web Conference (WWW) 2024! I analyze how users willing to engage with opposing views differ in terms of language they use and rewards they receive in their home communities. Preprint coming soon!

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Reposted by Alexandros Efstratiou

Manoel Horta Ribeiro @manoelhortaribeiro.bsky.social · 13/10/2023

I’m hitting the job market looking mainly for tenure-track asst. professor positions (2024)! My core research informs how we should curate content on online platforms — and I’m also interested in how large language models will impact on the Web in the upcoming years.

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Alexandros Efstratiou @alextheefstra.eurosky.social · 13/10/2023

Hi Ross! When is the start date for this, and how long will the fellowship be?

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