The dynamical strength of social ties in information spreading

TL;DR

This paper examines how the temporal dynamics of human communication, including burstiness and group conversations, influence information spreading in social networks, revealing contrasting effects on local and large-scale propagation.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of dynamical strength of social ties, integrating topological and temporal communication patterns to explain information spread.

Findings

Bursty communication patterns hinder large-scale information propagation.

Group conversations facilitate rapid local cascades.

Dynamical strength of ties explains contrasting spreading behaviors.

Abstract

We investigate the temporal patterns of human communication and its influence on the spreading of information in social networks. The analysis of mobile phone calls of 20 million people in one country shows that human communication is bursty and happens in group conversations. These features have opposite effects in information reach: while bursts hinder propagation at large scales, conversations favor local rapid cascades. To explain these phenomena we define the dynamical strength of social ties, a quantity that encompasses both the topological and temporal patterns of human communication.