Recent advances in opinion modeling: control and social influence

Test3g_t5000Giacomo Albi, Lorenzo Pareschi, Giuseppe Toscani, Mattia Zanella                                                                         

Active Particles, Volulme 1. Advances in Theory, Models, and Applications, pp. 49-98, 2017. (Preprint arXiv)

We survey some recent developments on the mathematical modeling of opinion dynamics. After an introduction on opinion modeling through interacting multi-agent systems described by partial differential equations of kinetic type, we focus our attention on two major advancements: optimal control of opinion formation and influence of additional social aspects, like conviction and number of connections in social networks, which modify the agents’ role in the opinion exchange process.