How Social Network Structure Impacts the Ability of Zealots to Promote Weak Opinions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the presence of zealots promoting weak opinions influences opinion dynamics in social networks, considering factors like network structure and zealot proportion.

Contribution

It introduces a model analyzing the impact of zealots on weak opinion spread, highlighting the roles of network topology and zealot proportion.

Findings

Higher zealot proportion increases weak opinion prevalence.

Network structure significantly affects opinion spread.

Weak opinions can dominate under certain conditions.

Abstract

Social networks are often permeated by agents who promote their opinions without allowing for their own mind to be changed: Understanding how these so-called `zealots' act to increase the prevalence of their promoted opinion over the network is important for understanding opinion dynamics. In this work, we consider these promoted opinions to be `weak' and therefore less likely to be accepted relative to the default opinion in the network. We show how the proportion of zealots in the network, the relative strength of the weak opinion, and the structure of the network impact the long-term proportion of the those in the network who subscribe to the weak opinion.