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Behavior patterns of online users and the effect on information filtering

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  • Zhang, Cheng-Jun
  • Zeng, An

Abstract

Understanding the structure and evolution of web-based user-item bipartite networks is an important task since they play a fundamental role in online information filtering. In this paper, we focus on investigating the patterns of online users’ behavior and the effect on recommendation process. Empirical analysis on the e-commercial systems show that users’ taste preferences are heterogeneous in general but their interests for niche items are highly clustered. Additionally, recommendation processes are investigated on both the real networks and the reshuffled networks in which real users’ behavior patterns can be gradually destroyed. We find that the performance of personalized recommendation methods is strongly related to the real network structure. Detailed study on each item shows that most hot items are accurately recommended and their recommendation accuracy is robust to the reshuffling process. However, the accuracy for niche items is relatively low and drops significantly after removing users’ behavior patterns. Our work is also meaningful in practical sense since it reveals an effective direction to improve the accuracy and the robustness of the existing recommender systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Cheng-Jun & Zeng, An, 2012. "Behavior patterns of online users and the effect on information filtering," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(4), pages 1822-1830.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:391:y:2012:i:4:p:1822-1830
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2011.09.038
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Fan, Rui & Xu, Ke & Zhao, Jichang, 2018. "An agent-based model for emotion contagion and competition in online social media," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 495(C), pages 245-259.
    2. Duan, Boping & Liu, Jing & Zhou, Mingxing & Ma, Liangliang, 2016. "A comparative analysis of network robustness against different link attacks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 448(C), pages 144-153.
    3. Zhang, Yi-Lu & Guo, Qiang & Ni, Jing & Liu, Jian-Guo, 2015. "Memory effect of the online rating for movies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 417(C), pages 261-266.
    4. Song, Wen-Jun & Guo, Qiang & Liu, Jian-Guo, 2014. "Improved hybrid information filtering based on limited time window," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 416(C), pages 192-197.
    5. Gao, Jian & Zhou, Tao, 2017. "Evaluating user reputation in online rating systems via an iterative group-based ranking method," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 473(C), pages 546-560.
    6. Hu, Liang & Ren, Liang & Lin, Wenbin, 2018. "A reconsideration of negative ratings for network-based recommendation," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 490(C), pages 690-701.
    7. Zhou, Bin & He, Zhe & Wang, Nianxin & Xi, Zhendong & Li, Yujian & Wang, Bing-Hong, 2015. "On the optimization of multitasking process with multiplayer," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 417(C), pages 41-45.
    8. Chandra, Anita & Garg, Himanshu & Maiti, Abyayananda, 2019. "A general growth model for online emerging user–object bipartite networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 517(C), pages 370-384.
    9. Gu, Ke & Fan, Ying & Di, Zengru, 2020. "How to predict recommendation lists that users do not like," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 537(C).
    10. Wen, Yuan & Liu, Yun & Zhang, Zhen-Jiang & Xiong, Fei & Cao, Wei, 2014. "Compare two community-based personalized information recommendation algorithms," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 398(C), pages 199-209.
    11. Wang, Ximeng & Liu, Yun & Xiong, Fei, 2016. "Improved personalized recommendation based on a similarity network," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 456(C), pages 271-280.
    12. Chen, Ling-Jiao & Gao, Jian, 2018. "A trust-based recommendation method using network diffusion processes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 506(C), pages 679-691.
    13. Liu, Chuang & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2012. "Heterogeneity in initial resource configurations improves a network-based hybrid recommendation algorithm," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(22), pages 5704-5711.

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