{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T16:22:51Z","timestamp":1776788571807,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,1]],"date-time":"2023-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1701388800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Computation"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study examines how U.S. senators strategically used hashtags to create political communities on Twitter during the 2022 Midterm Elections. We propose a way to model topic-based implicit interactions among Twitter users and introduce the concept of Building Political Hashtag Communities (BPHC). Using multiplex network analysis, we provide a comprehensive view of elites\u2019 behavior. Through AI-driven topic modeling on real-world data, we observe that, at a general level, Democrats heavily rely on BPHC. Yet, when disaggregating the network across layers, this trend does not uniformly persist. Specifically, while Republicans engage more intensively in BPHC discussions related to immigration, Democrats heavily rely on BPHC in topics related to identity and women. However, only a select group of Democratic actors engage in BPHC for topics on labor and the environment\u2014domains where Republicans scarcely, if at all, participate in BPHC efforts. This research contributes to the understanding of digital political communication, offering new insights into echo chamber dynamics and the role of politicians in polarization.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/computation11120238","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,1]],"date-time":"2023-12-01T03:58:02Z","timestamp":1701403082000},"page":"238","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Building Political Hashtag Communities: A Multiplex Network Analysis of U.S. Senators on Twitter during the 2022 Midterm Elections"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0246-5341","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yunus Emre","family":"Orhan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for the Study of Digital Society, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5273-5955","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Harun","family":"Pirim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-4308-5867","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yusuf","family":"Akbulut","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Grimmer, J. 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