ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2022
Algorithms for seeding social networks can enhance the adoption of a public health intervention in urban India.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Integrating behavioural experimental findings into dynamical models to inform social change interventions.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Detecting bias in algorithms used to disseminate information in social networks and mitigating it using multiobjective optimization.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- Examining the social and behavioral dynamics of substance use in a longitudinal network study in rural Appalachia.Addictive behaviors · 2024Article
- On the friendship paradox and inversity: A network property with applications to privacy-sensitive network interventions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Induction of social contagion for diverse outcomes in structured experiments in isolated villages.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- The enmity paradox.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Algorithms for seeding social networks can enhance the adoption of a public health intervention in urban India.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Targeting structurally influential individuals within social networks can enhance adoption of health interventions within populations. We tested the effectiveness of two algorithms to improve social contagion that do not require knowledge of the whole network structure. We mapped the social interactions of 2,491 women in 50 residential buildings (chawls) in Mumbai, India. The buildings, which are social units, were randomized to (1) targeting 20% of the women at random, (2) targeting friends of such randomly chosen women, (3) targeting pairs of people composed of randomly chosen women and a friend, or (4) no targeting. Both targeting algorithms, friendship nomination and pair targeting, enhanced adoption of a public health intervention related to the use of iron-fortified salt for anemia. In particular, the targeting of pairs of friends, which is relatively easily implementable in field settings, enhanced adoption of novel practices through both social influence and social reinforcement.
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