Influence Maximization on Signed Social Networks: A Survey

Influence maximization (IM) problem widely motivated researchers due to its application potential in computer science and social sciences. Most recent advances focus on positive relations (friends, trust, etc.) in unsigned social networks. IM is not explored well in signed networks by adopting positive and negative associations (foe, distrust, etc.). Therefore, this study surveys the IM problem in signed social networks. This is the first survey to explore the polarity-related IM problem in networks to the best of our knowledge. First, we discussed the social network’s fundamentals and polarity to build the foundation for the IM problem. Then, we described the information propagation process and models for signed social networks. After, we will present a discussion and comparison of the polarity-based IM state-of-the-art algorithms with performance evaluations. At last, we have explored the research challenges of signed networks and discussed future directions. Finally, we also discuss some open problems.