This is a blog compiling the latest physics news from the American Physical Society. News sources include lay summaries of Physical Review papers written by the papers' authors, APS Physics Tip Sheets from APS staff, and previews of talks from the Society's meetings.
Friday, July 27, 2012
With whom do you want to share rumors, a blabbermouth or a person of few words?
EG10922 - On
a social network, it seems better to transfer information
preferentially toward those who have many social links ("blabbermouths")
because they have larger impact on the network. However, at the same
time they can be bottlenecks for spreading information since information
tends to concentrate on these blabbermouths and becomes redundant. This
paper shows that to achieve a faster spread over the network, it is
indeed better to spread information preferentially toward those who have
few social links (reverse preferential).