利用流言传播信息：理论与随机对照试验的证据
Using Gossips to Spread Information: Theory and Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial
摘要：
有没有可能在不收集任何网络信息的情况下，仅仅通过询问几个人来确定在社区中处于高度中心地位的个人？如果我们把人们提名的候选人作为传播过程的种子，它会成功吗？我们从理论上探讨这些问题，通过调查，并通过实地实验。我们通过一个信息流模型展示了一个社区的成员如何通过跟踪别人的八卦来识别他们网络中的核心人物。当我们让印度农村的村民说出传播的好种子时，我们发现他们根据一种为传播量身定制的衡量标准准确地提名了那些核心人物--而不仅仅是那些有很多朋友或身居要职的人。最后，我们在其他213个村庄进行了随机田间试验，以测试使用这些提名作为扩散过程的种子的有效性。相对于随机种子或社会地位高的种子，击中村民提名的至少一个种子导致信息传播增加65%以上。
英文摘要：
Is it possible to identify individuals who are highly central in a community without gathering any network information, simply by asking a few people? If we use people's nominees as seeds for a diffusion process, will it be successful? We explore these questions theoretically, via surveys, and via field experiments. We show via a model of information flow how members of a community can, just by tracking gossip about others, identify highly central individuals in their network. Asking villagers in rural Indian villages to name good seeds for diffusion, we find that they accurately nominate those who are central according to a measure tailored for diffusion - not just those with many friends or in powerful positions. Finally, we run a randomized field experiment in 213 other villages that tests how effective it is to use such nominations as seeds for a diffusion process. Relative to random seeds or those with high social status, hitting at least one seed nominated by villagers leads to more than a 65% increase in the spread of information.
机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来，可能存在错误，请以论文正文为准。
