ABSTRACT
This paper analyses the influence of users in Sina Microblog based on interaction of users in microblogging service. With the data from Open Weiboscope Data Access website, we focus on “active users” in original data and construct a probability transition matrix of information diffusion. Then we utilise the measurement of effective distance to define the users’ influence, finding the top influence users in Sina Microblog. We find that the top users’ effective distance to others are shorter than others. Usually, they also make more interactions (retweets) in microblogging service. Furthermore, we construct a net graph of users by selecting the minimum effective distance of users as their connection in graph, finding that top users are usually located at the centre of network. All the results demonstrate the measurement of effective distance as a novel perspective and effective tool, which can be well applied to the investigation of the social network of Sina Microblog.
