Long-distance diffusion and strongly tied bridges: The influence of the originator’s network
研究了在线社交社区中简单想法的扩散，发现发起者的强关系比例越高或社交关系越密集，想法越可能扩散到远程联系人，且早期得到紧密群体支持的想法更易传播。
Network researchers have viewed a few influential individuals as driving the diffusion of ideas among individuals while paying little attention to the ways by which diffusion events came about in the first place. This study examines the role of the first adopters in the diffusion of simple ideas. To this end, it draws on the diffusion events of individual blog-posts in an online social community over a one-month period from 1 June to 30 June 2006. This study finds that an idea is likely to diffuse to remote contacts as the proportion of strong ties held by the source; that is, the idea originator, increases or as the social relations surrounding the source become dense. The analysis of this study suggests that the neighbors of the source play a pivotal role in the diffusion of simple ideas, and that an idea that is validated and supported early on by a cohesive group is likely to diffuse to remote contacts.