Abstract Based on information diffusion cascade theory, and taking the structure characteristics of word-of-mouth tree in the network community as the sample，the main structure characteristic index and propagation path division method are proposed. And then we develop and design an experimental study on a negative word-of-mouth tree in Sina community, to test its effectiveness and rationality. The research results show that Propagation size and arrival rate, propagation depth and breadth, and node propagation rate and cascading rate are three main indexes which can describe its structural characteristics at the global and individual level. The propagation path focuses on the description of its structural characteristics at the local level, which can be divided into four types: sporadic, receptive, diffused and widely used.
2017, Vol. 14 
