Micro blog topic propagation modeling based on timed Petri-Net

In recent years, due to the characteristics of public news media and social network in microblog system, the research of microblog topic propagation problems have been become the concern subject in Topic Detection and Tracking (TDT) fields, and has now also made some research results. Traditional research methods are mostly from the perspective of social management disciplines, people use some methods of probability statistics to research characteristics of information propagation. However, the scholars in the field of natural science are more emphasis on building of the information propagation model. Study of complex system provides the new ideas to solving problems of topic propagation in social network, and the complex network theory applied to the topic propagation also gradually become the focus of research attention. In this paper, we used the ideas of complex network modeling to solve practical problems about microblog topic propagation. We proposed a dynamic topic propagation model based on timed Petri-Net, and used CPN Tools to modeling and simulation, which supports the basic Petri-Net, plus timed Petri-Net, and colored Petri-Net. Based on the simulation results, we analyzed the feature of online social relationship and behavior of topic propagation. Experimental results show that the macroscopic behavior of microblog topic propagation can be described and simulated effectively and visually by this timed Petri-Net model. This work laid foundation for the further study from microscopic view of the topic propagation characteristics.