Opinion diversity and community formation in adaptive networks

• Main Authors: Yu, Y., Xiao, Gaoxi, Li, G., Tay, Wee Peng, Teoh, H. F.
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Social Networks; DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering; Power Distribution Systems
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/87801; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/46861
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

It is interesting and of significant importance to investigate how network structures co-evolve with opinions. In this article, we show that, a simple model integrating consensus formation, link rewiring, and opinion change allows complex system dynamics to emerge, driving the system into a dynamic equilibrium with the co-existence of diversified opinions. Specifically, similar opinion holders may form into communities yet with no strict community consensus; and rather than being separated into disconnected communities, different communities are connected by a non-trivial proportion of inter-community links. More importantly, we show that the complex dynamics may lead to different numbers of communities at the steady state with a given tolerance between different opinion holders. We construct a framework for theoretically analyzing the co-evolution process. Theoretical analysis and extensive simulation results reveal some useful insights into the complex co-evolution process, including the formation of dynamic equilibrium, the transition between different steady states with different numbers of communities, and the dynamics between opinion distribution and network modularity.