Opinion Maximization in Social Networks by Modifying Internal Opinions

Gengyu Wang, Runze Zhang, Zhongzhi Zhang

Keywords: Opinion dynamics, social network, multi-agent system, graph algorithm

Abstract: Public opinion governance in social networks is critical for public health campaigns, political elections, and commercial marketing. In this paper, we addresse the problem of maximizing overall opinion in social networks by strategically modifying the internal opinions of key nodes. Traditional matrix inversion methods suffer from prohibitively high computational costs, prompting us to propose two efficient sampling-based algorithms. Furthermore, we develop a deterministic asynchronous algorithm that exactly identifies the optimal set of nodes through asynchronous update operations and progressive refinement, ensuring both efficiency and precision. Extensive experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate that our methods outperform baseline approaches. Notably, our asynchronous algorithm delivers exceptional efficiency and accuracy across all scenarios, even in networks with tens of millions of nodes.

Primary Area: Optimization (e.g., convex and non-convex, stochastic, robust)

Submission Number: 11958