Abstract

The rapid diffusion of information and the adoption of social behaviors are of critical importance in situations as diverse as collective actions, pandemic prevention, or advertising and marketing. Although the dynamics of large cascades have been extensively studied in various contexts, few have systematically examined the impact of network topology on the efficiency of information diffusion. Here, by employing the linear threshold model on networks with communities, we demonstrate that a prominent network feature—the modular structure—strongly affects the speed of information diffusion in complex contagion. Our simulations show that there always exists an optimal network modularity for the most efficient spreading process. Beyond this critical value, either a stronger or a weaker modular structure actually hinders the diffusion speed. These results are confirmed by an analytical approximation. We further …

Date

January 1, 1970

Authors

Hao Peng, Azadeh Nematzadeh, Daniel M Romero, Emilio Ferrara

Journal

Physical Review E

Volume

102

Issue

5

Pages

052316

Publisher

American Physical Society