A Web2.0-Based Simulation Study Of Information Diffusion In Online Social Network Service

This paper aims at analyzing the information diffusion mechanism in social networks under Web2.0environment. The paper builds conceptual and mathematical models for information diffusion based on the related theories of complex networks, and then conducts a simulation experiment study to test our model. The results of simulation experiment shows that:(1)In a random diffusion process under Web2.0environment, the proportion of the users who participate in spreading the information will not exceed65%normally, but the proportion of diffusion scale accounts for more than90%in some cases.(2)The degree of initial diffusion node will positively affect the total number of users who spread the information and the diffusion scale. The number of users who spread the information and the diffusion scale appear to be an approximately linear growth with the moderating of the degree of initial diffusion node in terms of small browse probability p2, while with large browse probability p2, it appears to be an approximately non-linear growth and there exists a threshold. Within the range of threshold, the number of users who spread the information and the diffusion scale show a rapid increase, while beyond the threshold the increase tends to be slower.(3)With the moderating of browse probability p2from0.1to0.9, the growth curves of the number of users who spread information and the diffusion scale change from linear growth pattern to threshold growth pattern. By introducing the Matthew Effect into the p3data setting, the growth pattern polarizes into two categories interestingly:linear growth and threshold growth.The conclusions of this research can also be used to interpret some special and interesting phenomenon during the information diffusion process of online social networks under existing Web2.0environment. It also made several suggestions to online social networks operators to promote a more efficient information diffusion of existing online social networking, mainly in the following three points:(1)During the public opinion propagation process via online social network in Web2.0, not only the user with large social resources can spread out the information, but also a "grassroots" user, especially for the network events with great attraction.(2) To provide new ideas for Internet marketing, such as novel production, humorous films or videos with small budget. In this case, there’s no need to pay a considerably high cost on putting an ad on the website with high flows be will also be able to obtain the same or even better marketing results; meanwhile "the title of the party" is not conducive to the diffusion of information.(3) To promote the development of online social networking platform based on Web2.0environment.From the perspective of operational managers of Web2.0online social network platform, the core feature of Web2.0-interactive, should be integrated into all aspects of the platform when designing the interface. Together with displaying the publisher’s account information during the information diffusion process, more users will be encouraged to create and publish information. Meanwhile build information-sharing center and provide retrieval services enabling user-friendly browsing and sharing of information, so as to promote all kinds of information to disseminate widely on the platform.This paper has several theoretical contributions and practical implications for further research on information diffusion in social networks.