ITEPE: A source tracing algorithm for the microblog

Abstract

Finding the true source of a social network is a crucial component of social network information tracing. Using the new media microblog as an example, this paper provides a source tracing algorithm ITEPE (Initiators and Early Participants Extraction) to solve this problem. First, the cascade (session tree) is built according to the retweeting of a microblog, after which the cascade set (session forest) is clustered by topical relevance. Second, real initiators are identified through the user relationship network and information cascade network. The influence index and conformity index of every node is then iteratively calculated according to text sentiment analysis and information cascades and the early important participants are extracted. Finally, the real initiators and early participants are evaluated through an experiment.