Diffusion Models for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Media Distribution: On the Impact of Decentralized, Constrained Supply

Abstract

In Peer-to-Peer (P2P) media distribution, users obtain content from other users who already have it. This form of decentralized product distribution demonstrates several unique features. Only a small fraction of users in the network are queried when a potential adopter seeks a file and many of these users may even free-ride i.e. not distribute the content to others. As a result, generated demand may not always be fulfilled immediately. We present mixing models for product diffusion in P2P networks that capture decentralized product distribution by current adopters, incomplete demand fulfillment and other unique aspects of P2P product diffusion. The models serve to demonstrate the important role that P2P search process and distribution referrals -payments made to users that distribute files -play in efficient P2P media distribution. We demonstrate the ability of our diffusion models to derive normative insights for P2P media distributors by studying the effectiveness of distribution referrals in speeding product diffusion and determining optimal referral policies for fully decentralized and hierarchical P2P networks. KeywordsPeer to Peer file diffusion, P2P, supply-constrained diffusion, free-riding, mixing model of diffusion, distributed systems. AbstractIn Peer-to-Peer (P2P) media distribution, users obtain content from other users who already have it. This form of decentralized product distribution demonstrates several unique features. Only a small fraction of users in the network are queried when a potential adopter seeks a file and many of these users may even free-ride i.e. not distribute the content to others. As a result, generated demand may not always be fulfilled immediately. We present mixing models for product diffusion in P2P networks that capture decentralized product distribution by current adopters, incomplete demand fulfillment and other unique aspects of P2P product diffusion. The models serve to demonstrate the important role that P2P search process and distribution referrals -payments made to users that distribute files -play in efficient P2P media distribution. We demonstrate the ability of our diffusion models to derive normative insights for P2P media distributors by studying the effectiveness of distribution referrals in speeding product diffusion and determining optimal referral policies for fully decentralized and hierarchical P2P networks.

An Economic Analysis of Peer Disclosure in Online Social Communities

“…For example, BitTorrent, a popular P2P file sharing protocol, reduces network traffic congestion by slowing down the download speed for free riders (Hosanagar et al 2010). Online music streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora have been pressed by music labels to limit free streaming access to theirs users in order to alleviate the negative externalities imposed on paying users and musicians (Gigaom.com 2013;The Independent 2015).…”

“…To address these questions, we develop a stylized model that captures users' strategic decisions when they share information in an online social community. In our model, a fraction of users always participate in the community due to psychological commitment, membership, or other altruistic motivations (Hosanagar et al 2010;Bateman et al 2011). The other users are not committed and will strategically decide whether to join the community, taking into account the expected benefits from posting information, positive externalities from viewing posts containing others' personal information, and privacy harm resulting from the disclosure of their personal information by other people.…”

“…We use N i to denote the set of user i's friends and N i as the set of user 3 Individuals may participate in online social communities because of undisclosed self-interests, psychological commitments, or other altruistic motivations (Bateman et al 2011). The way we model heterogeneity in user participation resembles the distinction between "altruistic" and "strategic" nodes in peer-to-peer (P2P) media distribution networks in Hosanagar et al (2010).…”

Quality of Service Based Pricing Schemes for Content Sharing in Peer‐to‐Peer Networks

“…Luan et al (2010) develop a protocol which can sustain static QoS performance under highly dynamic and heterogeneous network on BitTorrent. Hosanagar et al (2010) examine the diffusion of content in P2P networks under various network topologies. Guo et al (2013) discuss, based on net neutrality and broadband network management, the case that Comcast slowed down P2P traffic to guarantee the network performance for the rest of its users.…”

Inadequacy of SIR model to reproduce key properties of real-world spreading cascades: experiments on a large-scale P2P system

“…A number of applications of such models were also explored [10], [11], including works investigating relevant properties of epidemic models on real networks [12]. However, as pointed out in [13], assessing the pertinence of such models to describe real-world phenomena is critical and empirical studies featuring real spreading data are key.…”