Users' mobility enhances information diffusion in online social networks

Online social networks have gradually changed the way that people exchange information as increasingly more people spread information via social networks. Most of the prior literature about propagation dynamics stresses static networks. Actually, owing to the openness of the network environment, users can freely enter and leave social networks. Therefore, we consider users' mobility and establish the information diffusion model called the in-out-Unacquired-Acquired-Rejected in online social networks. Specifically, we derive the information diffusion system using mean field theory. From theoretical analysis, the propagation threshold R-0 of the information diffusion system is obtained. We prove that if R-0 < 1, then the information-free equilibrium of the model is globally asymptotically stable and if R-0 > 1, then the information is permanently diffused. By means of numerical simulations using Sina Weibo, this paper verifies the theoretical analysis and the simulation results show that the larger the value of R-0, the better the information diffusion effect in online social networks. Moreover, users' mobility increases the connections among users and further expands the information diffusion. In addition, comparative experiments with the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model also illustrate the applicability of our information diffusion model. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.