Information Diffusion and Opinion Formation in Networked Systems
This was a collaborative project with Profs. Kartik Hosanagar (Penn, Wharton Business School), Santosh Venkatesh (Penn, ESE department), and Yong Tan (U. of Washington, Business School). The project sought to explore opinion formation and (product) adoption decisions in (social) networks.
The project had two main foci. The first was an empirical investigation of opinion formation in social networks, while the second dealt with the development of analytical models to study opinion formation in networks. The empirical study sought to construct a predictive statistical framework to investigate the mechanisms of opinion formation and evolution in online communities where social interactions take place. The analytical models of opinion formation explored how individuals could be influenced by their network peers, in particular when those influences could be biased based on an individual’s party affiliation. This was motivated by an interest in how external structures such as parties or clubs play a role in shaping the evolution of (networked) opinions.
Penn Contributors
Publications (most results are summarized in the last paper below)
- M. H. Afrasiabi, R. Guerin, and S. Venkatesh “Spin glasses with attitude: opinion formation in a partisan Erdös Rényi world,” presented at the 2014 ITA Workshop, San Diego, CA, February 2014.
- M. H. Afrasiabi, R. Guerin. And S. Venkatesh, “Opinion Formation in Ising Networks,” presented at the 2013 ITA Workshop, San Diego, CA, February 2013.
- L. Yan, K. Hosanagar, Y. Tan, and S. Venkatesh, “Online Opinion Formation and Social Interactions,” presented at the WITS 2012 Workshop, Orlando, FL, December 2012.
- M.H. Afrasiabi, R. Guerin, and S. Venkatesh, “Opinion formation in Ising networks.” Online Social Networks and Media Journal, Vol. 5, March 2018, pp. 1-22. DOI: 10.1016/j.osnem.2017.11.001