  Many studies have explored spreading and diffusion through complex networks.
The following study examines a specific case of spreading of opinions in modern
society through two spreading schemes, defined as being either through
word-of-mouth (WOM), or through online search engines (WEB). We apply both
modelling and real experimental results and compare the opinions people adopt
through an exposure to their friend`s opinions, as opposed to the opinions they
adopt when using a search engine based on the PageRank algorithm. A simulated
study shows that when members in a population adopt decisions through the use
of the WEB scheme, the population ends up with a few dominant views, while
other views are barely expressed. In contrast, when members adopt decisions
based on the WOM scheme, there is a far more diverse distribution of opinions
in that population. The simulative results are further supported by an online
experiment which finds that people searching information through a search
engine end up with far more homogenous opinions as compared to those asking
their friends.
