A comprehensive study on social networks analysis and mining to detect opinion leaders

Abstract

In today's society, social networks are vital for communication, allowing individuals to influence each other significantly. Opinion leaders play a crucial role in shaping opinions, attitudes, beliefs, motivations, and behaviors. Recognizing this, companies seek to identify influential users who resonate with their target audience to leverage their impact. Consequently, detecting opinion leaders in social networks has become essential. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive literature review on opinion leader detection. We present a detailed overview of various methods and approaches developed in this field, examining their strengths and weaknesses to identify the most effective strategies for different social networks. Additionally, we highlight key trends, challenges, and future directions in opinion leader detection. Our goal is to equip companies with the necessary knowledge to harness the power of opinion leaders for enhancing marketing and communication strategies. For researchers, this paper serves as a foundational resource, outlining the current state of the art and identifying gaps in the literature for future studies. Ultimately, we strive to advance the understanding of effective opinion leader detection and utilization within the dynamic landscape of social networks.

Keywords:

• Opinion leader
• social network
• detection methods
• posts'analysis
• social signals
• sentiment analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wided Oueslati

Wided Oueslati received the Ph.D. from the University of Tunis, Tunisia, in 2013. She is currently Associate Professor with l’Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Tunis, l’Université de la Manouba.

Siwar Mejri

Siwar Mejri has received the master’s degree in business intelligence, in July 2023. She is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in artificial intelligence and social networks. She is an assistant professor at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de la Manouba.

Jalel Akaichi

Jalel Akaichi has obtained his PhD from the university of Lile, France and he is currently Full Professor of computer science at Bisha University, Saudi Arabia.