We study dynamics of opinion formation in a network of coupled agents. As the network evolves to a steady state, opinions of agents within the same community converge faster than those of other agents. This framework allows us to study how network topology and network ow, which mediates the transfer of opinions between agents, both aect the formation of communities. In traditional models of opinion dynamics, agents are coupled via conservative ows, which result in one-to-one opinion transfer. However, social interactions are often nonconservative, resulting in one-to-many transfer of opinions. We study opinion formation in networks using one-to-one and one-to-many interactions and show that they lead to dierent community structure within the same network.
['Rumi Ghosh', 'Kristina Lerman']
The Impact of Network Flows on Community Formation in Models of Opinion Dynamics