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Development and evaluation of multi-agent models of online social influence based on Cialdini’s principles

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to better understand social influence in online social media. Therefore, we propose a method in which we implement, validate and improve individual behavior models. The behavior model is based on three fundamental behavioral principles of social influence from the literature (i.e., Cialdini’s principles): (1) consistency, (2) liking and (3) social proof. We have implemented the model using an agent-based modeling approach. The multi-agent model contains the social network structure, individual behavior parameters and the scenario that are obtained from empirical data. The model is validated by comparing the output of the multi-agent simulation with empirical data. We demonstrate the method by evaluating five versions of behavior models applied to the use case of Twitter behavior about a talent show on Dutch television.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Susanne Koster, David Langley, Olav Aarts and Jan Maarten Schraagen for their efforts to make this research possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Delft, The Netherlands

    Peter-Paul van Maanen & Bob van der Vecht

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  1. Peter-Paul van Maanen
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  2. Bob van der Vecht
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Correspondence to Peter-Paul van Maanen.

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van Maanen, PP., van der Vecht, B. Development and evaluation of multi-agent models of online social influence based on Cialdini’s principles. Soc. Netw. Anal. Min. 4, 218 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-014-0218-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-014-0218-0

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