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Opinion Dynamics Control in a Social Network with a Communication Structure

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Abstract

This paper considers a game-theoretic model of external control influence on opinion dynamics and reached consensus in a social network. The network participants are linked through an arbitrary communication graph. The goal of control is to keep the opinions of all network participants in the neighborhood of a given value. If there are several players, these target values may differ. The dynamic game under consideration belongs to the class of linear-quadratic games in discrete time. Optimal control and equilibrium are calculated using the Bellman equation. In the symmetric case, the solution is constructed analytically. Some numerical simulations illustrate the influence of the communication structure of a social network on the opinion dynamics and reached consensus.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Shandong Province “Double-Hundred Talent Plan” (No. WST2017009).

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Correspondence to Chen Wang.

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This article is part of the topical collection “Multi-agent Dynamic Decision Making and Learning” edited by Konstantin Avrachenkov, Vivek S. Borkar, and U. Jayakrishnan Nair.

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Jiang, H., Mazalov, V.V., Gao, H. et al. Opinion Dynamics Control in a Social Network with a Communication Structure. Dyn Games Appl 13, 412–434 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13235-021-00406-y

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