LGNet: Linear Graph Representation for Efficient Cold-Start Recommendations

Abstract

Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) demonstrate significant potential in recommendation systems but face difficulties with the cold-start problem, especially in integrating new nodes during inference. The typical solution leverages meta-learning for few-shot learning, though it often fails to fully capture collaborative filtering between nodes. In this paper, we revisit the node embedding propagation algorithm in GCNs, emphasizing the importance of collaborative filtering and elucidating the relation between high-order and low-order embeddings. Given the substantial interaction data required for training recommendation models, maintaining a simple model structure remains crucial. To address these challenges, we propose the Linear Graph Network (LGNet), which theoretically compresses multi-layer GCNs into a single layer, enabling the embedding of new nodes during inference. Experimental results on benchmark datasets for link prediction and user cold-start tasks demonstrate that LGNet outperforms existing methods. The code will be available at https://github.com/kunbeibei/LGNet.