Meridian World: Formula Measures Internet’s Capacity To Spread The Word

Gossip not all talk, has maths behind it

Formula Measures Internet’s Capacity To Spread The Word

London: Ever wondered why the secrets of celebrities spread on internet like wildfire?

    Well, Italian scientists have now developed a mathematical formula that predicts how fast rumours on social networking sites such as Facebook can fly around the globe. Researchers at Rome’s La Sapienza University have developed the equation (time taken for spread of gossip = estimate of time (log v/phi X log squared 1/phi)) that measures the internet’s power to spread indiscretion.

    In the equation, “v” stands for number of vertices of communication and “phi” stands for conductance, the Daily Mail reported.

    The researchers cited the infamous text messages by golfer Tiger Woods to one of his mistress and the alleged marital woes between French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni, which are among the most recent gossip that spread like wildfire via blogs, Twitter and Facebook.

    “And it shows just how fast news — and gossip — travels these days. It’s like influenza,” said Alessandro Panconesi, the lead researcher at the University. The researchers are yet to test their theory on the latest celebrity gossip. But professor Panconesi said he’s already demonstrated its reliability — thanks to the help of a fellow researcher in the US.

    The American mathematician recently posted one Tweet about the Italian group’s failure to get the funding promised them by the Italian government to carry out their research on the spread of gossip on the internet.

    “And within 17 hours, there’s a whole page about the work in the Corriere della Sera newspaper,” said Panconesi. “Funding for science in Italy is abysmal and we wanted to show it,” he said. “I think we have managed it.”

    But the newspapers in Italy, a celebrity-obsessed country, were more interested in hailing the study as evidence of the net’s miraculous power to shine a light on lives of the rich and famous. PTI