An Influence Maximization Algorithm Based on Improved K-Shell in Temporal Social Networks

Influence maximization of temporal social networks (IMT) is a problem that aims to find the most influential set of nodes in the temporal network so that their information can be the most widely spread. To solve the IMT problem, we propose an influence maximization algorithm based on an improved K-shell method, namely improved K-shell in temporal social networks (KT). The algorithm takes into account the global and local structures of temporal social networks. First, to obtain the kernel value Ks of each node, in the global scope, it layers the network according to the temporal characteristic of nodes by improving the K-shell method. Then, in the local scope, the calculation method of comprehensive degree is proposed to weigh the influence of nodes. Finally, the node with the highest comprehensive degree in each core layer is selected as the seed. However, the seed selection strategy of KT can easily lose some influential nodes. Thus, by optimizing the seed selection strategy, this paper proposes an efficient heuristic algorithm called improved K-shell in temporal social networks for influence maximization (KTIM). According to the hierarchical distribution of cores, the algorithm adds nodes near the central core to the candidate seed set. It then searches for seeds in the candidate seed set according to the comprehensive degree. Experiments show that KTIM is close to the best performing improved method for influence maximization of temporal graph (IMIT) algorithm in terms of effectiveness, but runs at least an order of magnitude faster than it. Therefore, considering the effectiveness and efficiency simultaneously in temporal social networks, the KTIM algorithm works better than other baseline algorithms.