  Is it possible to identify individuals who are highly central in a community
without gathering any network information, simply by asking a few people? If we
use people's nominees as seeds for a diffusion process, will it be successful?
We explore these questions theoretically, via surveys, and via field
experiments. We show via a model of information flow how members of a community
can, just by tracking gossip about others, identify highly central individuals
in their network. Asking villagers in rural Indian villages to name good seeds
for diffusion, we find that they accurately nominate those who are central
according to a measure tailored for diffusion - not just those with many
friends or in powerful positions. Finally, we run a randomized field experiment
in 213 other villages that tests how effective it is to use such nominations as
seeds for a diffusion process. Relative to random seeds or those with high
social status, hitting at least one seed nominated by villagers leads to more
than a 65% increase in the spread of information.
