Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2018
Publication Title
Social Networks
Volume
55
Abstract
We present a method whereby social network ties are used to identify behavioral leaders who are situated in the network such that these individuals are: 1) able to influence other individuals who are in need of and most receptive to intervention, thereby optimizing the impact of the intervention; and 2) not embedded with ties to individuals that are likely to be behaviorally antagonistic to the intervention or that would compromise the optimal impact of intervention. In this study we developed a method that we call Strategic Players, which is a solution for identifying a set of players who are close to a target subset of the network (i.e., the target group), and far away from the subset we wish to avoid (i.e. the avoid group), where the proximity to either the target or avoid group may be facilitated by network members who are in neither group (i.e. the neutral group). This solution seeks to maximize the diffusion of the behavior to the target group while minimizing contact and influence to the avoid group. We apply this method to two different social networks, and one simulated social network.
First Page
97
Last Page
103
Recommended Citation
Ott, Miles Q.; Light, John M.; Clark, Melissa A.; and Barnett, Nancy P., "Strategic Players for Identifying Optimal Social Network Intervention Subjects" (2018). Statistical and Data Sciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/sds_facpubs/28
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1016/j.socnet.2018.05.004
Rights
Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Data Science Commons, Other Computer Sciences Commons, Statistics and Probability Commons
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.