Abstract
The many decisions that people make about what to pay attention to online shape the spread of information in online social networks. Due to the constraints of available time and cognitive resources, the ease of discovery strongly impacts how people allocate their attention to social media content. As a consequence, the position of information in an individual’s social feed, as well as explicit social signals about its popularity, determine whether it will be seen, and the likelihood that it will be shared with followers. Accounting for these cognitive limits simplifies mechanics of information diffusion in online social networks and explains puzzling empirical observations: (i) information generally fails to spread in social media and (ii) highly connected people are less likely to re-share information. Studies of information diffusion on different social media platforms reviewed here suggest that the interplay between human cognitive limits and network structure differentiates the spread of information from other social contagions, such as the spread of a virus through a population.
Highlights
The spread of information in online social networks is often likened to the spread of a contagious disease
There exists a critical value of transmissibility—the epidemic threshold [16]—below which the contagion dies out, but above which it spreads to a finite portion of the network
The search for answers as to why information fails to spread in social media has uncovered the vital role of brain’s cognitive limits in social media interactions
Summary
The spread of information in online social networks is often likened to the spread of a contagious disease According to this analogy, information—whether a trending topic, a news story, a song, or a video—behaves much like a virus, “infecting” individuals, who “expose” their naive followers by mentioning the topic, sharing the video, or recommending the news story, etc. The vast majority of outbreaks are very small (see Figure 2), in stark contrast to the predictions of the epidemic model To explain these findings, I present studies examining the mechanisms of information diffusion, how people respond to multiple exposures to information. Accounting for how people use cognitive heuristics to decide what information to pay attention to in social media dramatically simplifies dynamics of social contagion and allows for more accurate predictions of how far information will spread online
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
