Spread of influence in weighted networks under time and budget constraints

• Published in: Theoretical computer science Vol. 586; pp. 40 - 58
• Main Authors: Cicalese, Ferdinando, Cordasco, Gennaro, Gargano, Luisa, Milanič, Martin, Peters, Joseph, Vaccaro, Ugo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 27-06-2015
• Subjects: Algorithms; Budgeting; Dynamic monopolies; Exact pseudo-polynomial time algorithms; Graph theory; Graphs; Networks; Polynomials; Social networks; Spread of influence; Spreading; Trees; Viral marketing; Social networks; Exact pseudo-polynomial time algorithms; Dynamic monopolies; Spread of influence; Viral marketing
• ISSN: 0304-3975; 1879-2294
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tcs.2015.02.032

Given a network represented by a weighted directed graph G, we consider the problem of finding a bounded cost set of nodes S such that the influence spreading from S in G, within a given time bound, is as large as possible. The dynamics that governs the spread of influence is the following: initially only elements in S are influenced; subsequently at each round, the set of influenced elements is augmented by all nodes in the network that have a sufficiently large number of already influenced neighbors. We prove that the problem is NP-hard, even in simple networks like complete graphs and trees. We also derive a series of positive results. We present exact pseudo-polynomial time algorithms for general trees, that become polynomial time in case the trees are unweighted. This last result improves on previously published results. We also design polynomial time algorithms for general weighted paths and cycles, and for unweighted complete graphs.