DynamiX: Large-Scale Dynamic Social Network Simulator

TL;DR

DynamiX is a large-scale social network simulator that models dynamic relationships and user behaviors, improving attitude evolution simulation and offering new insights into follower growth and opinion leader development.

Contribution

It introduces a novel dynamic social network modeling framework with modules for core agent selection and relationship strategies, addressing the gap in evolving social relationships.

Findings

Enhanced simulation of attitude evolution and collective behaviors.

Improved accuracy in modeling dynamic social relationships.

Provides empirical evidence for opinion leader cultivation.

Abstract

Understanding the intrinsic mechanisms of social platforms is an urgent demand to maintain social stability. The rise of large language models provides significant potential for social network simulations to capture attitude dynamics and reproduce collective behaviors. However, existing studies mainly focus on scaling up agent populations, neglecting the dynamic evolution of social relationships. To address this gap, we introduce DynamiX, a novel large-scale social network simulator dedicated to dynamic social network modeling. DynamiX uses a dynamic hierarchy module for selecting core agents with key characteristics at each timestep, enabling accurate alignment of real-world adaptive switching of user roles. Furthermore, we design distinct dynamic social relationship modeling strategies for different user types. For opinion leaders, we propose an information-stream-based link prediction method recommending potential users with similar stances, simulating homogeneous connections, and autonomous behavior decisions. For ordinary users, we construct an inequality-oriented behavior decision-making module, effectively addressing unequal social interactions and capturing the patterns of relationship adjustments driven by multi-dimensional factors. Experimental results demonstrate that DynamiX exhibits marked improvements in attitude evolution simulation and collective behavior analysis compared to static networks. Besides, DynamiX opens a new theoretical perspective on follower growth prediction, providing empirical evidence for opinion leaders cultivation.