Face-to-face discussions: Networking or opinions exchange?

Abstract

We use recent results of Cattuto et al. (PLoS ONE, 5(7):e11596, 2010) on face-to-face contact durations to try to answer the question: why do people engage in face-to-face discussions? In particular we focus on behavior of scientists in academic conferences. We show evidence that macroscopic measured data are compatible with two different micro-founded models of social interaction. We find that the first model, in which discussions are performed with the aim of introducing oneself (networking), explains the data when the group exhibits few well reputed scientists. On the contrary, when the reputation hierarchy is not strong, a model where agents’ encounters are aimed at exchanging opinions explains the data better.