One thing Watts does not account for in his simulation ... in real life, influentials are disproportionately likely to be connected to other influentials.
And just empirically we can see the influentials do have an effect. No one can really deny the power of celebrity endorsements. Now what can be questioned, though, is just how many connections do you need before you can be considered an influential, and what magnitude is their influence? From Watt's experiment we can probably conclude that 40 is not enough to do a lot.
And just empirically we can see the influentials do have an effect. No one can really deny the power of celebrity endorsements. Now what can be questioned, though, is just how many connections do you need before you can be considered an influential, and what magnitude is their influence? From Watt's experiment we can probably conclude that 40 is not enough to do a lot.