Modeling Information Diffusion in Online Social Networks Using a Modified Firefly Algorithm

The dynamics and patterns of information propagation on online social networks are complex and challenging to model and to predict. This study proposes a novel algorithm for simulating the spread of information on online social networks using a swarm-based approach. The algorithm is based on the firefly algorithm, which incorporates a new term called Vantablack to represent the non-spreader nodes in the network. The proposed algorithm is validated on three real-world datasets extracted from Kaggle.com, covering different topics and domains. The proposed algorithm outperforms other baseline methods in terms of accuracy and efficiency in predicting information diffusion.