Influence Maximization and Extremal Optimization.

Influence Extremal Optimization (InfEO) is an algorithm based on Extremal Optimization, adapted for the influence maximization problem for the independent cascade model. InfEO maximizes the marginal contribution of a node to the influence set of the model. Numerical experiments are used to compare InfEO with other influence maximization methods, indicating the potential of this approach. Practical results are discussed on a network constructed from publication data in the field of computer science.