Large-Scale Analysis of Rural-Urban Differences in Geographic Homophily

Masatoshi Ushiba, Shiori Hironaka, Mitsuo Yoshida, Kyoji Umemura

Abstract: Homophilic tendency is a basic phenomenon in human society. People interact with similar people; however, they also tend to interact with others depending on their preferences. Typically, a wide variety of people reside in urban areas. However, the tendency of these people to interact with various other individuals remains to be investigated. In this study, we investigate urban-rural differences in homophily and the population of an area on a large scale using social media data, thereby discovering that the degree to which similar people connect with each other is higher in more populous areas. In addition, we noted that people residing in more populous areas are more diverse. Our analysis also revealed that people in urban areas are more tolerant of others' relationships in all the 10 countries investigated in this study.