Design Improvements for Message Propagation in Malleable Social Networks

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gopal, Ram; Hidaji, Hooman; Patterson, Raymond A.; Rolland, Erik; Zhdanov, Dmitry
• 署名单位: University of Connecticut; University of Alberta; University of Calgary; University of California System; University of California Merced
• 刊物名称: PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1059-1478
• DOI: 10.1111/poms.12521
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 993-1005
• 关键词: propagation; social networks; Network intervention; network alteration; hop-constrained minimum spanning tree (HMST)

摘要

This study presents the formal problem definition and computational analysis of the network design improvements for idea and message propagation in both enterprise and consumer social networks (ESN and CSN, respectively). Message propagation in social networks is impacted by how messages are seeded in the network, and by propagation characteristics of the network topology itself. It has been recognized that the propagation properties of these networks can be actively influenced by network design interventions, such as the deliberate creation of new connections. We address the problem of finding cost-effective message seeding, and identifying potential new network connections that allow improved propagation in social networks with cascade propagation. We use the hop-constrained minimum spanning tree (HMST) model to find the seeds and possible new connections that result in networks with improved propagation properties. Moreover, we present new heuristic algorithms that substantially improve the solution quality for the HMST problem. Computational results posit that the design improvements proposed by the HMST approach can greatly improve cascade propagation performance of the networks at low cost.