Event Details

PhD Dissertation Defense - Nathan Bartley

Mon, Sep 09, 2024
9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: ISI 1135
Title: Measuring and Mitigating Exposure Bias in Online Social Networks  
 
Date and Time: Monday, September 9th: 9:00am - 11:00am  
 
Location: ISI 1135  
 
Committee Members: Kristina Lerman (Chair)< Mike Ananny, Emilio Ferrara, Fred Morstatter  
 
Abstract: Online social platforms employ personalized feed algorithms to gather and collate messages from accounts users follow (and increasingly, from accounts they don’t follow). However, the network structure and activity of these observed accounts distorts content’s perceived popularity prior to any personalization. We call this “exposure bias:” our research focuses on quantifying it using diverse metrics, and we evaluate different algorithms that underpin personalized feeds with these metrics. We use empirical X/Twitter data and simulations in a network to assess the influence different feeds have on exposure bias. We describe a greedy algorithm based on network properties that offers insights into how to mitigate exposure bias.