An opinion disseminating model for market penetration in social networks

In this paper, a novel model for opinion dissemination over network is suggested so that market penetration activities can be described. The model assumes the existence of two different products, one of which is always considered first and the supporters' (or users') opinions are allowed to propagate among individuals of the population. This is to describe the dynamics of market penetration of a particular product, by gaining the market share of its competitor or attracting new users, even the competitor is with higher reputation. From the simulation results, it is found that the product with lower preference can still obtain a non-zero fraction of market share in many cases, when a small-world network is considered. Some level of clustering in the network facilitates the adoption of the product, while increasing randomness undermines its existence. The simulations also show the importance of the users' remembrance of a product and the communication effectiveness in related to market penetration. ©2010 IEEE.