Identifying trust in social networks with stubborn agents, with application to market decisions

Abstract

No man is an island: the opinions that shape human economic decisions reflect the fabric of trust that exists between one agent and its social network. In this work we discuss how stubborn agents in a network expose the relative trust that exists among the agents, by analyzing the system equations that are used in popular opinion diffusion models. We propose methods to measure the agents beliefs from their actions on social media. Preliminary results with simulations and real data highlight the interesting insights that can be gained by interpreting the social network interactions under this lens. We also discuss how the perception of personal utility in an economic transaction can be inferred by identifying the relative trust and controlling the stubborn agents influence, advertising through them products so that the social network perceives them more favorably.