A new research article by Valentina Assenova demonstrates how innovations diffuse through networks. Her model incorporates opinion formation processes that occur through diffusion. She also tested her model with diffusion data from a field experiment previously collected in India (Banerjee et al., 2013).
The research article is published in PLoS One: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0196699
A podcast about the article is here: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/can-innovation-spread-faster-through-social-networks/
Reference:
Banerjee A, Chandrasekhar AG, Duflo E, Jackson MO. The Diffusion of Microfinance. Science. 2013;341(6144):1236498. pmid:23888042