Developing ideological networks using social network analysis and writeprints: A case study of the international Falun Gong movement

The convenience of the Internet has made it possible for activist groups to easily form alliances through their Websites to appeal to wider audience and increase their impact. In this study, we investigate the potential of using social network analysis (SNA) and Writeprints to discover the fusion of activitst ideas on the Internet, focusing on the Falun Gong movement. We find that network visualization is very useful to reveal how different types of Websites or ideas are associated and, in some cases, mixed together. Furthermore, the measures of centrality in SNA help to reveal which Websites most prominently link to other Websites. We find that Writeprints can be used to identify the ideas which an author gradually introduces and combines through a series of messages.