Research on Work Strategies and Workflow of Social Bots

Abstract

Social media is an important influence factor on public opinion. The application of social bots significantly influences the formation and changes in public opinion. This article analyses and concludes the workflow of social bots and divides workflow of social bots into three stages: Deployment, expansion of social network, and unleashing of influence. This article also analyzed the strategy of social bots in these steps. This article finds out that social bots can accelerate the spread of their influence in information cascades through a combination of different strategies. Besides, this article also analyzes the application of these strategies with some cases. This study reveals the working mechanism of social bots and lays a foundation for further analysis of the influence of social bots.