The stochastic evolution of a rumor spreading model with two distinct spread inhibiting and attitude adjusting mechanisms in a homogeneous social network.

Abstract In this paper, we propose and analyze from a stability viewpoint a deterministic, ODE-based class of rumor spreading models with two distinct inhibiting and adjusting mechanisms, together with its corresponding stochastic counterpart. For the deterministic model, a threshold parameter R 0 defined ad hoc, called the basic influence number, is used to ascertain whether the rumors are prevailing or not. If R 0 1 , the rumor-free equilibrium is found to be locally asymptotically stable, while if R 0 > 1 it is shown that there is at least one additional rumor-prevailing equilibrium, which is necessarily locally asymptotically stable. For the stochastic model, we first show that there exists a unique global solution. Subsequently, we investigate the asymptotic behavior of the stochastic system around the equilibria of the deterministic system by constructing suitable Lyapunov functionals. Furthermore, numerical simulations are given to illustrate, support and enhance our theoretical analysis.