The Rise and Fall of a Networked Society: A Formal Model

In a well networked community, there is intense social interaction, and information disseminates briskly and broadly. This is important if the environment is volatile (i.e., keeps changing) and individuals never stop searching for fresh opportunities. Here, we present a simple model that attributes...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2004-02, Vol.101 (6), p.1439-1442
Main Authors: Marsili, Matteo, Vega-Redondo, Fernando, Slanina, František, Wachter, Kenneth W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Approximation
Economic models
Empirical evidence
Ergodic theory
Hyperlinks
Neighborhoods
Physical Sciences
Physics
Search terms
Social interaction
Social networking
Social psychology
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In a well networked community, there is intense social interaction, and information disseminates briskly and broadly. This is important if the environment is volatile (i.e., keeps changing) and individuals never stop searching for fresh opportunities. Here, we present a simple model that attributes the rise of a dynamic society to the emergence of some key features in its social network. We also explain the apparently paradoxical observation that although such features do not necessarily materialize even under favorable conditions they display a significant resilience to deteriorating conditions. We interpret these findings as a discontinuous phase transition in the network formation process.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0305684101