Citation for the KD Tocher Medal 2023
Chaitanya Kaligotla, Enver Yücesan and Stephen E. Chick
Diffusion of Competing Rumours on Social Media
We happily award the Tocher medal to Chaitanya Kaligotla (Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University), Enver Yücesan and Stephen E. Chick (INSEAD) for their paper ‘Diffusion of Competing Rumours on Social Media’.
The paper considers the dynamics of communication on social media, namely the spread of competing rumours. The impact of micro-level agent interactions on macro level outcomes is investigated for two competing rumours and heuristics for countering the spread of unfavourable rumours are proposed. The judges believe the subject matter of the paper is of wide interest in this time of ‘false news’. We found the investigation was well explained and meets the aim of the authors to broaden the understanding of a complex social phenomenon. The paper is an outstanding example of the practical use of Agent Based Modelling to provide insight in a real-world complex system. Congratulations to the authors!
Journal of Simulation, Volume 16 (3) 230-250
https://doi.org/10.1080/17477778.2020.1785345