Comment to "Emergence of Scaling in Random Networks" (cond-mat/9910332)

A recent paper "Emergence of scaling in random networks" (cond-mat/9910332) by Barabasi and Albert proposes a growth mechanism to produce a stationary scale free distribution of the number of edges per node in large networks such as the Web. The Barabasi-Albert model predicts that older vertices acquire new edges at the expense of younger ones, giving a strong correlation between the time a vertex is introduced and the number of edges it has. We present data from the Web showing that there is no such correlation and point to an alternative growth model which produces the correct relationship between the age of a site and the number of links it has.