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Information Cascades on Social Media after the Paris Attacks

In class we learned that as part of a network, our behavior can be easily influenced by those around us. And when this influence is permeates throughout the network, we get a “follow the crowd” cascade effect where everyone’s behavior follows the same influence. This can be seen on social media, which is highlighted with […]

Following the Crowd with Facebook Event Read Receipts

Facebook has recently added a read-receipts feature to its events feature in order to attract more users to the feature. A read receipt is a tag that shows whether someone has viewed or seen something. For Facebook events, read receipts will show whether invited guests have viewed the event. This will definitely change the dynamics […]

A theoretic treatment of network diffusion

A seminal paper by Stephen Morris (linked below) in 1998 laid the groundwork for much of the work done in analyzing, among other things, decisions people take after looking at analogous decisions made by people in their friend circle – or local network. Studying how people make choices by , to put it simply, “looking […]

Effects of Information Cascades during the Paris Terrorist Attacks

PorteOuverte. Open Door. Such a simple phrase carried powerful connotations in the wake of the series of terror attacks in Paris. After the set-off of explosions by suicide bombers near the Stade de France in Saint Denis and a round of shootings near the cafe “Le petit Cambodge”, Parisian government officials quickly ordered a state […]

Practical Applications of Information Cascades

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/10/mass-movements http://www.voxeu.org/article/riots-and-revolutions-digital-age Information Cascades, when completely simplified, seem to mean nothing more than people imitating each other, which is a very natural thing for human beings to do. Why, then, does it have such an impact on so many fields and markets? Take the labor market for example. When a few workers rebels against, say, the wage […]

Applying game theory to the “tragedy of the commons”

According to an article by Science Magazine, the “tragedy of the commons” is a situation in which one common resource is shared among multiple independent and rational individuals each seeking to maximize their own gain. The best interest of the group, which would be achieved by equal sharing of the common resource, conflicts with the […]

Evolutionary Game Theory

Some of the basic concepts of evolutionary game theory have been introduced in lecture, such as a basic model for evolutionary game theory and evolutionarily stable strategies, but many of the details are missing. For example, we assumed that given a mix of two strategies in a population, the strategy that gives a greater expected […]

The Rich Get Richer: Qualcomm’s Alleged Use of Predatory Pricing

In lecture, we’ve discussed scenarios that involve the rich-get-richer effect. The idea behind the rich-get-richer effect is that companies with very popular products have an advantage over companies with less popular products, regardless of the quality of competing products. This advantage can be exploited in a number of ways, one of which is known as […]

Political Activism Through Social Media – Pro vs Con

Social media has played a major role in the spread of new ideas and movements in the past decade. Ever since the growth of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., we seem to have all of the world’s events at our fingertips. The moment that something is captured and posted online, the audience multiplies with each share […]

Network Effects in the Market of Apple Watches

Heard of the device that allows you to respond to notifications quickly, track your daily activities, control music with your voice, pay for your groceries, and tell time? That’s right, the Apple Watch! Instead of constantly walking around and looking at your phone, you can look at your watch to stay in touch. When it […]

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