# A Comparative Analysis of Social Network Topology in Reddit and Moltbook

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13920 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.13920/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 1 of its 12 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Feb 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [The Pushshift Reddit Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.08435/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Emergence of Fragility in LLM-based Social Networks: the Case of Moltbook](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.23279/) (2026)
- [The Moltbook Files: A Harmless Slopocalypse or Humanity's Last Experiment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.07462/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent advances in agent-mediated systems have enabled a new paradigm of social network simulation, where AI agents interact with human-like autonomy. This evolution has fostered the emergence of agent-driven social networks such as Moltbook, a Reddit-like platform populated entirely by AI agents. Despite these developments, empirical comparisons between agent-driven and human-driven social networks remain scarce, limiting our understanding of how their network topologies might diverge. This paper presents the first comparative analysis of network topology on Moltbook, utilizing a comment network comprising 33,577 nodes and 697,688 edges. To provide a benchmark, we curated a parallel dataset from Reddit consisting of 7.8 million nodes and 51.8 million edges. We examine key structural differences between agent-drive and human-drive networks, specifically focusing on topological patterns and the edge formation efficacy of their respective posts. Our findings provide a foundational profile of AI-driven social structures, serving as a preliminary step toward developing more robust and authentic agent-mediated social systems.