In this chapter, we discuss methods from fields such as sociology, epidemiology, and ethnography, which can help social media mining.
Our focus is on techniques that can model information diffusion.
Societies provide means for individuals to exchange information through various channels. For instance, people share knowledge with their immediate network (friends) or broadcast it via public media (TV, newspapers, etc.) throughout the society. Given this flow of information, different research fields have disparate views of what is an information diffusion process. We define information diffusion as the process by which a piece of information (knowledge) is spread and reaches individuals through interactions. The diffusion process involves the following three elements:
1. Sender(s). A sender or a small set of senders initiate the information diffusion process.
2. Receiver(s). A receiver or a set of receivers receive diffused information. Commonly, the set of receivers is much larger than the set of senders and can overlap with the set of senders.
3. Medium. This is the medium through which the diffusion takes place. For example, when a rumor is spreading, the medium can be the personal communication between individuals.
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