On the effects of network structure and committed minority placement in promoting social diffusion

Social diffusion is the phenomenon whereby a populationcollectively adopts a novel (alternative) behaviour, opinion,product or technology to replace an existing status quo. Oftenthe process is driven by a small number of individuals, termedcommitted minority, who stubbornly promote the alternative.In this work, we use an experimentally-proven game-theoreticagent-based model to explore how social diffusion is influencedby the network of social interactions, the placement of committedminority and the timing that committed minority are introducedinto the network. Through a campaign of Monte Carlo simulations,we find that diffusion occurs quicker on sparse andhighly-clustered networks. In addition, we show that placingthe committed minority at nodes with the highest Bonacichcentrality with a negative attenuation factor seems to be the bestapproach for facilitating diffusion. Then, we find that the timingof introducing committed minority has a negligible effect on thediffusion process. Finally, our findings are tested and confirmedon a case study based on a real-world co-authorship network.

社会传播（Social diffusion）是指群体集体采纳新颖（替代）行为、观点、产品或技术以取代现有现状的现象。该过程通常由被称为坚定少数派（committed minority）的少数个体驱动，他们执着地推广该替代方案。本研究采用经实验验证的博弈论多智能体（agent-based）模型，探究社会互动网络、坚定少数派的部署位置，以及将坚定少数派引入网络的时机如何影响社会传播过程。通过一系列蒙特卡洛（Monte Carlo）模拟实验，我们发现稀疏且高聚类性的网络中传播速度更快。此外，研究表明，将坚定少数派部署在带有负衰减系数的最高波纳契奇中心性（Bonacich centrality）节点上，似乎是促进传播的最优方案。进一步研究发现，引入坚定少数派的时机对传播过程的影响可忽略不计。最后，本研究基于真实世界的合著者网络开展案例研究，对上述发现进行了验证与确认。