# Conditions for viral influence spreading through multiplex correlated social networks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1404.3114 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1404.3114/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 11 Apr 2014.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Recommender systems based on graph embedding techniques: A comprehensive review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.09587/) (2021)
- [A Diffusive Data Augmentation Framework for Reconstruction of Complex Network Evolutionary History](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.06485/) (2025)
- [Inferring Network Evolutionary History via Structure-State Coupled Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.02121/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

A fundamental problem in network science is to predict how certain individuals are able to initiate new networks to spring up "new ideas". Frequently, these changes in trends are triggered by a few innovators who rapidly impose their ideas through "viral" influence spreading producing cascades of followers fragmenting an old network to create a new one. Typical examples include the raise of scientific ideas or abrupt changes in social media, like the raise of Facebook.com to the detriment of Myspace.com. How this process arises in practice has not been conclusively demonstrated. Here, we show that a condition for sustaining a viral spreading process is the existence of a multiplex correlated graph with hidden "influence links". Analytical solutions predict percolation phase transitions, either abrupt or continuous, where networks are disintegrated through viral cascades of followers as in empirical data. Our modeling predicts the strict conditions to sustain a large viral spreading via a scaling form of the local correlation function between multilayers, which we also confirm empirically. Ultimately, the theory predicts the conditions for viral cascading in a large class of multiplex networks ranging from social to financial systems and markets.