Influence of Reciprocal Links in Social Networks |
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| Authors: | Yu-Xiao Zhu Xiao-Guang Zhang Gui-Quan Sun Ming Tang Tao Zhou Zi-Ke Zhang |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Web Sciences Center, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, P. R. China.; 2. Alibaba Research Center for Complexity Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, P. R. China.; 3. Alibaba Research Institute, Hangzhou, P. R. China.; 4. Complex Systems Research Center, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.; 5. Department of Mathematics, North University of China, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.; University of Maribor, Slovenia, |
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| Abstract: | How does reciprocal links affect the function of real social network? Does reciprocal link and non-reciprocal link play the same role? Previous researches haven''t displayed a clear picture to us until now according to the best of our knowledge. Motivated by this, in this paper, we empirically study the influence of reciprocal links in two representative real datasets, Sina Weibo and Douban. Our results demonstrate that the reciprocal links play a more important role than non-reciprocal ones in information diffusion process. In particular, not only coverage but also the speed of the information diffusion can be significantly enhanced by considering the reciprocal effect. We give some possible explanations from the perspectives of network connectivity and efficiency. This work may shed some light on the in-depth understanding and application of the reciprocal effect in directed online social networks. |
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