Modeling page-view dynamics on Wikipedia
arXiv:1212.5943
Abstract
We introduce a model for predicting page-view dynamics of promoted content. The regularity of the content promotion process on Wikipedia provides excellent experimental conditions which favour detailed modelling. We show that the popularity of an article featured on Wikipedia's main page decays exponentially in time if the circadian cycles of the users are taken into account. Our model can be explained as the result of individual Poisson processes and is validated through empirical measurements. It provides a simpler explanation for the evolution of content popularity than previous studies.
6 pages, 13 figures Proceedings of the European Conference on Complex Systems (ECCS 2013)