A number of posts this past week discussed various positive and negative aspects of information cascades. On one hand, companies can use social networks to generate additional social valueforf their products (e.g., FireFox, Nintendo, MySpace). If successful, such strategies can also serve as an efficient advertisement tool.

As mentioned in class, efforts in computer science have been made to measure diffusion through networks. In particular, progress in this area can lead to new insights on how one might best select a group of early adopters to maximize coverage of a social network. Both mrjeets and cuecon204 discuss a recent paper by researchers at IBM which study information diffusion through Blogspace. The model presented in this paper is actually derived from a diffusion model proposed in part by Professor Kleinberg in 2003.

However, information cascades can also generate negative effects on society. Some examples include perpetration of false information. One recent post by dijkstra discussed the recent news about Marilee Jones after her academic credentials were finally revealed to be false after nearly 29 years of being accepted at face value. Other potentially more harmful effects include how political and corporate decisions might be adversely affected by information cascades.