Joint Selection of Influential Users and Locations under Target Region in Location-Based Social Networks

Area of Science:

• Social Network Analysis
• Location-Based Social Networks
• Marketing Analytics

Background:

• Traditional influence maximization neglects location importance in social networks.
• Marketing campaigns require identifying influential users and suitable locations for product promotion.
• Existing methods overlook the interplay between user influence and location characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the joint selection of influential users and locations for product promotion in location-based social networks.
• To propose methods for both general and specific location type recommendations.
• To investigate the effectiveness of location popularity metrics in marketing.

Main Methods:

• Development of heuristic-based methods for selecting influential users and locations.
• Evaluation of two perspectives: general location selection and specific location type preference.
• Experimental analysis of proposed methods on location-based social network data.

Main Results:

• Heuristic methods effectively identify influential users and locations for promotion.
• Location popularity metrics (e.g., ratings, check-ins) are not always reliable indicators for marketing success.
• The joint selection of influential users and suitable locations significantly enhances product promotion.

Conclusions:

• Effective product promotion in location-based social networks requires considering both influential users and strategically chosen locations.
• Relying solely on popularity metrics for location selection can be suboptimal for marketing.
• The proposed methods offer a more nuanced approach to influence maximization in location-aware contexts.