Figure 3

Early diffusion within the core is predictive. The cartoon illustrates the predictive feature associated with k-shell structure: social diffusion initiated with three “seed” individuals is much more likely to propagate widely if these seeds reside within the network’s core (left) rather than at its periphery (right). Note that in Appendix Two this result is established for networks of realistic scale and not simply for “toy” networks like the one shown here.