The Illusion of the "Majority Illusion"

The Washington Post recently published an interesting article on a non-obvious aspect of human networks called "The Majority Illusion".  I am usually glad to see network science explained in the popular press.  Unfortunately, in their desire to simplify, they don't always understand the nuances of the dynamic they are trying to explain.  It turns out that the Majority Illusion may be an illusion itself.

The Majority Illusion is an illusion because of the way it is drawn! As a circle, the diagram is deceiving.  It emphasizes the minority count of the aqua nodes and obfuscates the pattern, and the importance, of how they are connected.

If we visualize the network above in a common emergent format – the nodes are arranged according to their direct and indirect connections – we see a different picture below, and are led to a different conclusion.  It is not the illusion of the minority of aqua nodes in the network that is interesting, it is their location in the structure of the network.  It is their location that gives them power. The visualization below has the exact same connections as the circle diagram above.  The visualization below reveals the power of the 3 aqua nodes – they are central in the network and control the flow of information.  Their prime location in the network trumps their minority count!  This is their power, not some illusion.

In our software, if we run the social network analysis metric (betweenness), which reveals control of the flow in the network, we see that the gatekeeper nodes in the network are 11, 8 and 2 -- the aqua nodes. 

In a actual human network the three aqua nodes would probably be all connected to each other because of homophily – birds of a feather flock together.  The aqua nodes would be connected because they are all of one mind – indicated by their aqua status. The same would be true of the peach colored nodes -- they would also show higher intra-connectivity because they are near-by nodes, of high homophily. 

Additionally, both node colors have another inclination to be connected within the color. In human networks, nodes of similar connectivity tend to connect to each other – a dynamic called assortative mixing.  With higher intra-connectivity within both color groups, via homophily and assortativity, the original illusion disappears. The original circle diagram is intended to represent a small human group, but it does not follow the the basic sociology of human groups!

Seeing the real network structure, no one is surprised that the aqua nodes dominate.  The golden rule of networks is the same as the golden rule of real estate: location, location, location. For deep dive on network location and how it provides power, see "Power in Networks."