Information Dissemination Analysis Using a Time-Weight Null Model: A Case Study of Sina Micro-Blog

Information dissemination in a social network is constrained by the underlying structure of the network and interaction between the users, and different dissemination patterns are exhibited over time. In this paper, first, information dissemination trees (IDTs) are constructed by tracking the Sina micro-blog information dissemination path (i.e., message forwarding and @), and an empirical analysis of their time characteristics is conducted. Second, the time-weight shuffle null model is established based on the null model in statistics, including the equal time-weight edge shuffle null model and the node time-weight shuffle null model, which are utilized to analyze the temporal properties and the corresponding information dissemination pattern. Thus, we further analyze the dynamics of the IDTs, which contain the burstiness of the information dissemination, the dissemination scale, and the effect of the network structure on the information dissemination. Finally, the experimental results indicate that the information dissemination in Sina micro-blog has a 5-h-effect and the network structure has a positive effect on the dissemination of information. The latter contrasts sharply with the scenarios of the European mobile phone network and e-mail communication network, and the burstiness of the information dissemination is suppressed while the network structure is destroyed.