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We build on recent results on the spatiotemporal structure of social and information networks to elucidate the constraints they pose on social mobilization. We use the DARPA Network Challenge as our working scenario, in which social media were used to locate 10 balloons across the United States. We conduct high-resolution simulations for referral-based crowdsourcing and obtain a statistical characterization of the population recruited, geography covered, and time to completion. Our results demonstrate that the outcome is plausible without the presence of mass media but lies at the limit of what time-critical social mobilization can achieve. Success relies critically on highly connected individuals willing to mobilize people in distant locations, overcoming the local trapping of diffusion in highly dense areas. However, even under these highly favorable conditions, the risk of unsuccessful search remains significant. These findings have implications for the design of better incentive schemes for social mobilization. They also call for caution in estimating the reliability of this capability.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1216338110","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,4,2]],"date-time":"2013-04-02T01:35:20Z","timestamp":1364866520000},"page":"6281-6286","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.cm10313","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":46,"title":["Limits of social mobilization"],"prefix":"10.1073","volume":"110","author":[{"given":"Alex","family":"Rutherford","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Computing and Information Science, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi 54224, United Arab Emirates;"}]},{"given":"Manuel","family":"Cebrian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093;"},{"name":"National Information and Communications Technology Australia, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia;"}]},{"given":"Sohan","family":"Dsouza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computing and Information Science, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi 54224, United Arab Emirates;"}]},{"given":"Esteban","family":"Moro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Matem\u00e1ticas and Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28911 Madrid, Spain;"},{"name":"Instituto de Ingenier\u00eda del Conocimiento, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain;"}]},{"given":"Alex","family":"Pentland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139; and"}]},{"given":"Iyad","family":"Rahwan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computing and Information Science, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi 54224, United Arab Emirates;"},{"name":"School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AB, United Kingdom"}]}],"member":"341","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_1_2","first-page":"65","article-title":"Ushahidi or \u2018testimony\u2019: Web 2.0 tools for crowdsourcing crisis information","volume":"59","author":"Okolloh O","year":"2009","unstructured":"O Okolloh, Ushahidi or \u2018testimony\u2019: Web 2.0 tools for crowdsourcing crisis information. 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