Maximizing influence spread in modular social networks by optimal resource allocation

Tianyu Cao, Xindong Wu, Song Wang, Xiaohua Hu

Abstract: Influence maximization in a social network is to target a given number of nodes in the network such that the expected number of activated nodes from these nodes is maximized. A social network usually exhibits some degree of modularity. Previous research efforts that made use of this topological property are restricted to random networks with two communities. In this paper, we firstly transform the influence maximization problem in a modular social network to an optimal resource allocation problem. We assume that the communities of the social network are disconnected. We then propose a recursive relation for finding such an optimal allocation. We prove that finding an optimal allocation in a modular social network is NP-hard and propose a new dynamic programming algorithm to solve the problem. We name our new algorithm OASNET (Optimal Allocation in a Social NETwork). We compare OASNET with the high degree heuristics, the single degree discount heuristics, and the degree discount heuristics on three real world datasets. Experimental results show that OASNET outperforms comparison heuristics significantly on the independent cascade model when the diffusion probability is greater than a certain threshold. Highlights ► We transform the influence maximization problem in modular socialnetworks to a resource allocation problem. ► We derive a recursive relationship for optimal allocation in a modular social network. ► We prove that the optimal allocation problem is NP-hard. ► We give a dynamic programming algorithm to solve the optimal resource allocation problem. ► We validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm OASNET on three real world networks.