On Wednesday Feb 22, Jonas Juul (DTU) will present his talk “Harder, better, faster, stronger cascades – or simply larger?” on the dissemination of online content.

Abstract:
Do some types of online content spread faster or further than others? In recent years, many studies have sought answers to such questions by comparing statistical properties of network paths taken by different kinds of content diffusing online. Here we demonstrate the importance of controlling for correlations in the statistical properties being compared. In particular, we show that previously reported structural differences between diffusion paths of false and true news on Twitter disappear when comparing only cascades of the same size; differences between diffusion paths of images, videos, news, and petitions persist. Paired with a theoretical analysis of diffusion processes, our results suggest that in order to limit the spread of false news it is enough to focus on reducing the mean “infectiousness” of the information. Joint work with Johan Ugander (Stanford University)