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Identifying Influential Nodes Using guestHub

http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/10/guesthub-helps-identify-brand-campaign-influencers/

guestHub is a brand new platform created to identify what they call “conversion-driven influencers”. These people can influence their connections, related to a specific topic or product. The idea is that the person who originally shared a link or invitation that continues to percolate through a network can be tracked and identified. Possible application includes marketing and political advertising.

In terms of the idea that a single person can be traced back and credited for the dispersal of important information – brand advocacy, political backing, what have you – may be related to the concept of a bridge. I would be interested to see if the people typically identified are both early adopters as well as bridge nodes in their respective social networks. This would mean that information they pass on could be brought from multiple otherwise separate segments of a larger network, and therefore distributed to more people who are in separated concentrations of nodes.

Something I find particularly interesting in this piece is the following:

“…they are identifying connections between the smallest groups of friends which they have determined to be much more important than the influence by uber-popular people…”

While this whole concept is related to Networks and the use of connections, this particular portion contradicts the acquaintances phenomenon discussed in class that people in a network are more likely to contribute to the distribution of information if it originated from an acquaintance rather than a close friend, or strong tie. Marketing specialists or political activists could therefore target people who are in very dense areas of a network were the strong triadic closure property is obeyed. This property means that any of the catalyst’s strong connections are connected to each other. This could result in a higher level of trust behind a recommendation if it is floating between a tightly connected set of nodes.

Considering the extreme importance of online advertisements and positive customer endorsements, both in the modern internet-driven market as well as in the election year, guestHub could be a valuable tool in identifying the most influential nodes in a network and leveraging these nodes, perhaps through targeted advertising, special promotions, or the like.

-bugbyte

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