Abstract

We develop a probabilistic approach for accurate network modeling using node popularities within the framework of the mixed-membership stochastic blockmodel (MMSB). Our model integrates two basic properties of nodes in social networks: homophily and preferential connection to popular nodes. We develop a scalable algorithm for posterior inference, based on a novel nonconjugate variant of stochastic variational inference. We evaluate the link prediction accuracy of our algorithm on nine real-world networks with up to 60,000 nodes, and on simulated networks with degree distributions that follow a power law. We demonstrate that the AMP predicts significantly better than the MMSB.