Will two phases be better than a single phase for influence maximization?
Maximizing information diffusion or influence maximization , given a seeding budget, is an important topic in social networks research. Exploring information diffusion in two phases, we study how to optimally split the budget, how to select seed nodes in the two phases, and when to commence the second phase. Our conclusions: (a) When there are strict temporal constraints one should use single-phase diffusion; (b) Under moderate temporal constraints, it is best to use two-phase diffusion by scheduling a second phase with a short delay after the first phase while allocating most budget to the first phase and (c) When there are no temporal constraints, it is best to use two-phase diffusion with a long delay while allocating approximately one-third of the budget to the first phase.
Reference:
Swapnil Dhamal, K.J. Prabuchandran and Y. Narahari. Information diffusion in social networks in two phases. IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering (TNSE), vol. 3, no. 4, pages 197-210. IEEE, 2016.
Link to the Paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7570252