Network models of minority opinion spreading

Despite there are different models in literature that analyze the dynamic of opinion formation, less attention has been paid to explain how the structure of social networks and their contextual circumstances can influence the course of minority public opinions. This work is aimed to ask three basic questions: (1) how can affect the structure of social networks to minority opinion spreading, (2) how committed agents can influence in this process, and (3) how mass media action, as a contextual factor, can vary different agents' opinions and network composition. Agent-based modeling is used to perform a network model of preferential attachment that is used to explore how phenomena of minority opinion spreading can evolve under different simulated scenarios. This study shows that the success of minority opinions depends on the network structure and composition, and thus external factors such as mass media action that can mediate the strength of these internal determinants. In spite of people tend to remain silent when they feel that their opinions are in the minority pole, our findings suggest that prevailing majority opinion may be promptly replaced by formerly minority opinion if core agents in the network structure and/or external sources support this view