Network Dynamics: Structural Effects. As we’ve just seen, the question of how people
influence each other’s behavior is already quite subtle even when the actual structure of the
underlying network is left implicit. But taking network structure into account provides
important further insights into how such kinds of influence take place. The underlying
mechanisms — based on information and direct benefits — are present both at the level of
whole populations, and also at a local level in the network, between an individual and his
or her set of friends or colleagues. In many cases you care more about aligning your own
behavior with the behavior of your immediate neighbors in the social network, rather than
with the population as a whole.