A modified Galam’s model for word-of-mouth information exchange

Andrea Ellero (), Giovanni Fasano () and Annamaria Sorato

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2009, vol. 388, issue 18, 3901-3910

Abstract: In this paper we analyze the stochastic model proposed by Galam in [S. Galam, Modelling rumors: The no plane Pentagon French hoax case, Physica A 320 (2003), 571–580], for information spreading in a ‘word-of-mouth’ process among agents, based on a majority rule. Using the communications rules among agents defined in the above reference, we first perform simulations of the ‘word-of-mouth’ process and compare the results with the theoretical values predicted by Galam’s model. Some dissimilarities arise in particular when a small number of agents is considered. We find motivations for these dissimilarities and suggest some enhancements by introducing a new parameter dependent model. We propose a modified Galam’s scheme which is asymptotically coincident with the original model in the above reference. Furthermore, for relatively small values of the parameter, we provide a numerical experience proving that the modified model often outperforms the original one.

Keywords: Word-of-mouth process; Information spreading (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:388:y:2009:i:18:p:3901-3910

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2009.06.002

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