Figure 3. Modular and nested architectures under mutualistic dynamics.

Two synthetic networks with the same size (N = 1000) and density (ρ = 0.25), but different architecture (modular, nested), exhibit radically different outcomes when the mutualistic dynamical framework is applied on them via extensive numerical simulations. Left: Persistence as a function of the competition β and mutualism γ terms. For a wide range of parameters the modular network shows poor survival; conversely, the nested architecture performs equally or better than the modular counterpart in any given region. Right: differences in the “survival areas” increase with size, which indicates that the pressure for an architectural shift (modular to nested) grows as new nodes (users and hashtags) join the system. Note that the x-axis in the right panels (“Persistence”) corresponds to the z-axis (color code) in the left panels. All results are averaged over 1000 realizations. Additional results for other sizes and densities can be found in Figs S7 to S11.