Social Network analysis

Posted on | October 5, 2006 | Comments Off

Social networks have an exponential effect, this is because of the cicle built from the relationship between people, people generate content and other people looks for that content and generate another content and so on.

cycle

Social networks are systems, and as every other system there is no better way to analyzed it than flow analysis. Flows could be represented by Mapping and measuring the invisible relationships between people.

How could be analyze relationshipts (qualitative) based in data generated by actions (Quantitative). First of all we need to modelling the network information system, it means that we need to determine what action or group of actions represent a particular relationship indicator. Social networks analysis:

- Betweenness: The number of people who a persons is connected to indirectly through their direct links.

- Centrality Closeness: Is the inverse of the sum of the shortest distances between each individual and every other person in the network.

- Centrality Degree: The count of the number of ties to other actors in the network.

- Centrality Eigenvector: Measure the importance of a node in a network.

- Centralization: Is the difference between the n of links for each node divided by maximun possible sum of differences. A centralized network will have much of its links dispersed around one of a few nodes, while decentralized network is one in which there is a little variation between the n of links each node possesses.

- Clustering Coefficient: Measure the likelihood that two associates of a node are associates themselves. A higer clustersing coefficient indicates a greater “cliquishness”.

- Cohesion: Refers to the degree to which actors are connected directly to each other by cohesive bonds. Groups are identified as “cliques” if every actor is directly tied to every other actor, “social circles” if there is less stringency of direct contact, which is imprecise, or as structurally cohesive blocks if precision is wanted.

- Constraint

- Contagion

- Density: Is the proportion of ties in a network relative to the total number possible (sparse versus dense networks).

- Integration

- Path Lengh: The distances between pairs of nodes in the network. Average path lengh is the average of these distances between all pairs of nodes.

- Radiality: Degree of an individual’s network reaches out into the network and provides novel information and influence.

- Reach: The degree any member of a network can reach other members of the network.

- Structrural Equivalence: Refers to the extend to which actors have a common set of linkages to other actors in the system.

- Structural Hole: Static holes that can be strategically filled by connecting one or more links to link together other points. Linked to ideas of social capital: If you link to people who are not linked you can control their communication.

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