<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"KorolevLiU Medium";
panose-1:0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.Pa8, li.Pa8, div.Pa8
{mso-style-name:Pa8;
mso-style-priority:99;
margin:0cm;
line-height:12.05pt;
text-autospace:none;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"KorolevLiU Medium";}
span.A8
{mso-style-name:A8;
mso-style-priority:99;
font-family:"KorolevLiU Medium";
color:black;}
span.A6
{mso-style-name:A6;
mso-style-priority:99;
font-family:"KorolevLiU Medium";
color:black;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="SV" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:center">
<a name="_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt">The Institute for Analytical Sociology Seminar</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa8" align="center" style="margin-bottom:1.0pt;text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span class="A8"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Venue: KO301, Campus Norrköping & Online on
Zoom </span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span class="A8"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">(see Zoom link in the end of the email)</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span class="A6"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span class="A6"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa8" align="center" style="margin-bottom:1.0pt;text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Thursday, March 16 @
<b><u>14:30CET</u></b></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p class="Pa8" align="center" style="margin-bottom:1.0pt;text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US">__________________________________________________</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:SV">The strength of weak bots<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-language:SV">Marijn A. Keijzer<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-language:SV">Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt">Abstract:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US">Social media bots pose a threat to democratic societies. They may propagate falsehoods, influence public opinion formation and disturb democratic decision-making.
But empirical evidence is mixed and presents a puzzle: a mismatch between macro-level patterns and micro-level behavior. On the one hand, there are large numbers of bots present on social media, and the content they promote spreads quickly and reaches far.
On the other, bots’ connectivity with human users tends to be limited and their direct impact seems marginal.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US">In this talk, I present the
<i>strength-of-weak-bots </i>mechanism to resolve the bot effectiveness puzzle. Key to this mechanism is indirect influence. Bots with limited direct impact on humans may be more, not less, effective in spreading their views in the social network because their
direct contacts keep exerting influence on users that the bot does not reach directly. I demonstrate the mechanism using a theoretical agent-based model that extends Axelrod’s seminal model of the dissemination of culture with bot agents.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US">Topic: IAS Seminars<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US">Join Zoom Meeting<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"></span><a href="https://liu-se.zoom.us/j/65535789369"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US">https://liu-se.zoom.us/j/65535789369</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"><span lang="EN-US">Meeting ID: 655 3578 9369<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69118321"></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV">Best regards<br>
Madelene Töpfer<br>
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV">Administrator<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<table class="MsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="width:100.0%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="100%" style="width:100.0%;border:none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 3.75pt 3.75pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV"><img border="0" width="170" height="44" style="width:1.7708in;height:.4583in" id="_x0000_i1025" src="https://liu.se/mallar/signatur/liu_signatur_en.png" alt="Linköping University"></span><span style="mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100%" style="width:100.0%;padding:3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV">Institute for Analytical Sociology</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV"><br>
S-601 74 Norrköping<br>
Phone: +46 (0)11-36 32 91<br>
Mobile: +46 (0)700 89 66 97<br>
Visiting address: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV">Kopparhammaren 7, Kungsgatan 56D, Campus Norrköping</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV">Please visit us at
</span><span style="mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV"><a href="https://liu.se/" title="liu.se"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;text-decoration:none">liu.se</span></a></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV">
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;display:none;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<table class="MsoNormalTable" border="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="100%" style="width:100.0%;padding:3.75pt 0cm 3.75pt 0cm">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#626262;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV">E-mailing Linköping University will result
in Linköping University processing your personal data. Find more information on how this is done at
</span></i><span style="mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV"><a href="https://liu.se/en/article/integritetspolicy-liu"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#626262">https://liu.se/en/article/integritetspolicy-liu</span></i></a></span><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#626262;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV">
</span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#626262;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>