Communications of the ACM
Researchers Develop Algorithm to Maximize Friendship Acceptance By Strangers on Social Networks
A team of computer scientists has developed an algorithm that can help one 'friend' strangers on social networks.
Credit: arXiv:1302.7025
A new algorithm can aid strangers in their efforts to become friends with people they do not know on social networks.
A team of computer scientists from Taiwan, the United States, and China developed the algorithm to make intelligent suggestions of people to friend in order to create a mutual circle of friends with the intended target. The goal is to establish common friends, and fool the intended target into thinking they have the same social circle. As a result, the intended target would be more likely to accept the friend request of the stranger.
The algorithm would only work if implemented by the social network itself because they are the only ones that can analyze the structure of friend relationships between different individuals who do not know each other or have any friends in common.
To maximize the likelihood that the friending target would accept an invitation from the user, the researchers formulated a new optimization problem called Acceptance Probability Maximization, and developed a polynomial time algorithm known as Selective Invitation with Tree and In-Node Aggregation, to arrive at the optimal solution.
From PhysOrg.com
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