Why influencers sometimes fail to influence: Professors Yuan Hsiao and Nicholas Christakis publish new study

Why influencers sometimes fail to influence: Professors Yuan Hsiao and Nicholas Christakis publish new study on why well-connected people don’t always spread change

A new study published in American Sociological Review by Yuan Hsiao and Nicholas Christakis finds that targeting well-connected people in a social network doesn’t guarantee widespread behavior change. The effect also depends on how the people around those influencers are connected to each other: when ties are concentrated too tightly around a few hubs, it can actually slow the diffusion of ideas or behavior across the wider network. The findings were featured in Yale News on July 7, 2026.

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