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Information Is Not a Virus, and Other Consequences of Human Cognitive Limits

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  • Kristina Lerman

    (Information Science Institute, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA 90292, USA)

Abstract

The many decisions that people make about what to pay attention to online shape the spread of information in online social networks. Due to the constraints of available time and cognitive resources, the ease of discovery strongly impacts how people allocate their attention to social media content. As a consequence, the position of information in an individual’s social feed, as well as explicit social signals about its popularity, determine whether it will be seen, and the likelihood that it will be shared with followers. Accounting for these cognitive limits simplifies mechanics of information diffusion in online social networks and explains puzzling empirical observations: ( i ) information generally fails to spread in social media and ( ii ) highly connected people are less likely to re-share information. Studies of information diffusion on different social media platforms reviewed here suggest that the interplay between human cognitive limits and network structure differentiates the spread of information from other social contagions, such as the spread of a virus through a population.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristina Lerman, 2016. "Information Is Not a Virus, and Other Consequences of Human Cognitive Limits," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-11, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jftint:v:8:y:2016:i:2:p:21-:d:70033
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rodriguez, Manuel Gomez & Leskovec, Jure & Balduzzi, David & Schã–Lkopf, Bernhard, 2014. "Uncovering the structure and temporal dynamics of information propagation," Network Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 26-65, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gerardo Iñiguez & Sara Heydari & János Kertész & Jari Saramäki, 2023. "Universal patterns in egocentric communication networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Joseph B. Bak-Coleman & Ian Kennedy & Morgan Wack & Andrew Beers & Joseph S. Schafer & Emma S. Spiro & Kate Starbird & Jevin D. West, 2022. "Combining interventions to reduce the spread of viral misinformation," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(10), pages 1372-1380, October.
    3. Paul J. Croft, 2019. "Environmental Hazards: A Coverage Response Approach," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, March.
    4. Airani, Rajeev & Karande, Kiran, 2022. "How social media effects shape sentiments along the twitter journey?A Bayesian network approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 988-997.

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