Social and Information Networks 2: Evolution

This lecture explores the dynamics of social and information networks, focusing on concepts such as herding behavior, information cascades, heavy-tailed degree distributions, and the importance of the observer in network analysis. It delves into models like the urn model to illustrate altruistic and selfish decision-making, the impact of preferential attachment in network growth, and the implications of the 'rich get richer' phenomenon. The lecture also discusses the Friendship Paradox, where individuals tend to have friends with more friends than themselves, and how this paradox influences network dynamics and decision-making processes.