Modeling memetics using edge diversity

Abstract

The study of meme propagation and the prediction ofmeme trajectory are emerging areas of interest in the field of complex networks research. In addition to the properties of the meme itself, the structural properties of the underlying network decides the speed and the trajectory of the propagating meme. In this paper, we provide an artificial framework for studying the meme propagation patterns. Firstly, the framework includes a synthetic network which simulates a realworld network and acts as a testbed formeme simulation. Secondly, we propose ameme spreading model based on the diversity of edges in the network. Through the experiments conducted, we show that the generated synthetic network combined with the proposed spreading model is able to simulate a real worldmeme spread. Our proposed model is validated by the propagation of the Higgs boson meme on Twitter as well as many real world social networks.