Social Media and the Diffusion of Information: A Computational Experiment on the Emergence of Food Scares
通过基于主体的建模和一项中国食品恐慌后的行为调查（n=586），研究了社交媒体如何改变信息在人群中的扩散过程，发现社交媒体虽不增加信息级联的可能性，但显著改变了扩散网络的拓扑结构，促进反馈循环形成，可能引发市场和社会恐慌。
Summary This paper examines how social media have modified the process through which information spreads within a population. Building on agent‐based modeling and a behavioral survey on information diffusion following a food scare in China (n = 586), we study diffusion networks in simulated populations with and without access to social media. While the use of social media does not increase the likelihood of informational cascades, our results suggest a significant change in the topology of diffusion networks. Social media facilitate the formation of feedback loops through the emergence of multiple links, which can potentially lead to instances of market and social panic.