Negative Influence Gradients Lead to Lowered Information Processing Capacity on Social Networks

Nisha Baral, Chathika Gunaratne, Chathura Jayalath, William Rand, Chathurani Senevirathna, Ivan Garibay

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Communication networks are known to exhibit asymmetric influence structures, constructed of a spectrum from highly influential individuals to highly influenced individuals. Information Processing Capacity (IPC) determines the level of responsiveness expressed by individuals when communicating with others in such networks. In this study, we explore the asymmetric influence structure of GitHub’s cryptocurrency developer community and show how it affects the IPC of the users in such networks. We use an agent-based model of information diffusion and conversation based on dynamic individual-level probabilities extracted from data on activity from cryptocurrency-related GitHub repositories. In this model, users that receive notifications from their neighbors at a rate above their IPC enter an overloaded state. We show that users who are influenced substantially more than they influence other users are typically expected to be overloaded and constantly experience lower IPC. In other words, these users are influenced more than they are able to express this magnitude of influence toward their neighbors. These results have potential implications in the design of viral marketing and reducing the harm of misinformation campaigns.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2019 International Conference of The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas
EditorsZining Yang, Elizabeth von Briesen
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media B.V.
Pages265-275
Number of pages11
ISBN (Print)9783030775162
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes
EventInternational Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSSSA 2019 - Santa Fe, United States
Duration: Oct 24 2019Oct 27 2019

Publication series

NameSpringer Proceedings in Complexity
ISSN (Print)2213-8684
ISSN (Electronic)2213-8692

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSSSA 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySanta Fe
Period10/24/1910/27/19

Funding

Acknowledgements We thank Leidos for providing data and DARPA SocialSim grant (FA8650-18-C-7823) for funding us to perform this study.

FundersFunder number
Defense Advanced Research Projects AgencyFA8650-18-C-7823

    Keywords

    • Cryptocurrency
    • GitHub
    • Influence
    • Information diffusion
    • Information overload
    • Information processing capacity

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