The Difference between Offline and Online Ties in Twitter

Social network sites (SNSs) not only strengthens an existing offline relationship, but also facilitates the formation of a new online relationship. As a result, there coexist the online ties between offline friends and online ties between two users who do not have any offline interactions and connection in SNSs. We investigate the nature of offline ties and its roles on tweet diffusion. We observe some interesting findings: (1) people can spread more efficiently (with fewer hops) their tweet on their offline friends’ local network; (2) offline ties play an essential intermediary role in facilitating pairwise tweet dissemination on each other’s local network; (3) As either in-degree centrality of a network or the number of community clusters increases, the information flow efficiency and edge-between centrality increase

BUSINESS VALUE OF SMART CONTRACT: CASE OF INVENTORY INFORMATION DISCREPANCIES

Firms are increasingly interested in Blockchain Smart Contracts as a solution for the visibility of the digital supply chain. Blockchain can help realize the cost reductions by providing a “single version of the truth” for a firm and its trading partners. By sharing important information such as inventory levels, manufacturing performance and operations indicators, and order and shipment information, firms can eliminate the delays and uncertainties in the information that contributes to “the bullwhip effect” and inflates required buffer stock. This paper focuses on the impact of blockchain in an inventory operation to cope up with information discrepancies. We present and compare the cost differences between an existing technology (like EDI) and blockchain. Using technologies like blockchain and smart contracts will enable a more transparent, sustainable, and resilient supply chain