Control Strategies for Recommendation Systems in Social Networks

Ben Sprenger, Giulia De Pasquale, Raffaele Soloperto, John Lygeros, Florian Dörfler

Published 2024-03-10Version 1

A closed-loop control model to analyze the impact of recommendation systems on opinion dynamics within social networks is introduced. The core contribution is the development and formalization of model-free and model-based approaches to recommendation system design, integrating the dynamics of social interactions within networks via an extension of the Friedkin-Johnsen (FJ) model. Comparative analysis and numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies in maximizing user engagement and their potential for influencing opinion formation processes.