Sakamoto, Yasuaki, Elliot Sadlon, and Jeffrey V. Nickerson. "Bellwethers and the emergence of trends in online communities." Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. 2008.

This study explores how collective decisions, such as article popularity on Digg, emerge from individual behaviors influenced by early choices and the presence of influential users. Through statistical analysis and simulations of voting processes, it reveals the impact of social influences and identifies the role of certain individuals in guiding online trends.