Centripetal Trend in Comments to News in Social Networks

The article considers the ratio of centripetal and centrifugal tendencies in online commenting. The research objective was to describe the consistency of comments to news texts published in social networks. This article focuses on the results obtained on the centripetal trend. The approach and methodology were based on the scientific hypothesis about the self-developing nature of communication in social networks. According to this hypothesis, the degree of subjectivity of online news discussion can be transmitted to the dialogue through the text of its comments. The original news text becomes the basis for comments, which are independent texts focused on the original news. As a result, the original text turns into a complex branched network. Comments develop as chains or branches of discussion responses, which can be analyzed. This research featured an Internet text from the Vkontakte social network, its comments, and their mental map. The ratio of centripetal and centrifugal tendencies revealed a certain pattern: the consistency of the original text determined the consistency of comments. The patterns of their correlation showed how the self-developing nature of communication created new linguistic phenomena. The article is of interest to specialists in Internet communication and social networks.