APPROACH TO VERIFICATION OF THE TARGET AUDIENCE MODEL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

Abstract

Modern planning of psychological operations is not possible without the use of information technology, such as modeling tools that ensure the accuracy of planned operations and predict their results. Modern technologies also help to facilitate the perception of information through visualization. Any information, especially on social networks, is easier for analysts to process if it is presented in a schematic form. For example, the target audience of psychological influence in social networks can be represented by a graph. The article solves the urgent problem of verifying the model of the target audience of psychological influence in social networks. The approach to model verification is based on a combination of cognitive criteria of topological structure. Classical methods of verification of mathematical models are used for verification of mathematical calculations. Data visualization is taken as the basis of the cognition criterion. The article presents a method of graph visualization, which sets the mathematical model of the target audience. Visual representation of the graph not only promotes better assimilation, but also speeds up the analysis of the collected information about the target audience through automation. The data obtained during the run of the model are compared with real data, thus confirming the conformity of the behavior of the model to real phenomena. Validation of the model with the help of software was performed by tracing the model. The adequacy of the model is based on the possibility of analysis of the target audience by the user according to the characteristics of individual actors, which make it possible to determine their role and analyze the structure of the target audience as a whole. The theory of analysis of social networks is the basis of the choice of characteristics of the target audience. To assess the adequacy of the model, two characteristics of the target audience were chosen, as centrality in mediation and centrality in its own vector. The results of the calculations are presented using the software application Gephi. Data from the VKontakte social network were used as input data to check the adequacy of the model.