Information diffusion model based on social network

Abstract

Analyzing the process of information dissemination on online social network is a complex work because of large number of users and their complex topology relationship. Inspired by epidemic dynamics, we proposed two models that focus on the two different aspects of complicacy of the problem. The Improved SI Model pays more attention to topology relationship. In this model, we classify users into M - m + 1 categories by their degrees and focus on influence of degree distribution of the online social network. From this model we found that more friends have greater influence on receiving message rather than spreading message. In Improved SIR Model, we do not focus on the specific network topology and utilize theory of probability and differential equations to describe the information dissemination process. From the model, we found that the total number of online social network users does not have great impact on the information spreading speed. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.