Understanding of social network structure and user behavior has important implications for site design, applications (e.g., ad placement policies), accurate modeling for social studies, and design of next-generation infrastructure and content distribution systems. Currently, characterizations of social networks have been dominated by topological studies in which graph representations are analyzed in terms of connectivity using techniques such as degree distribution, diameter, average degree, clustering coefficient, average path length, and cycles. The problem is that these parameters are not completely satisfactory in the sense that they cannot account for individual events and have only limited use, since one can produce a set of synthetic graphs that have the exact same metrics or statistics but exhibit fundamentally different connectivity structures. In such an approach, a node drawn as a small circle represents an individual. A small circle reflects a black box model in which the interior of the node is blocked from view. This paper focuses on the node level by considering the structural interiority of a node to provide a more fine-grained understanding of social networks. Node interiors are modeled by use of six generic stages: creation, release, transfer, arrival, acceptance, and processing of the artifacts that flow among and within nodes. The resulting description portrays nodes as comprising mostly creators (e.g., of data), receivers/senders (e.g., bus boys), and processors (re-formatters). Two sample online social networks are analyzed according to these features of nodes. This examination points to the viability of the representational method for characterization of social networks.

DSTR-DFSSNDL - Impact of social networks on digital liquidity

Social networks are a great way to introduce people to the power of Sociology. In my Intro class, I make a point to show students the way their social networks shape the spread of divorce, how people ask for help, and the surprisingly tangled world of dating. Now there’s a new take on networks – […]

New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, 2020.

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2023]

Facebook is often considered the 800-pound gorilla of the social networking market. Its family of apps -- which includes its main app, Instagram, and WhatsApp -- grew its monthly active users 14% year over year to 3.21 billion last quarter. Facebook also shares a near-duopoly with Alphabet's Google in the digital ad market.

However, several major social networks are still growing in Facebooks shadow. Lets take a closer look at three of them, how they withstood competition from Facebook, and what that resilience means for Facebooks long-term prospects.

1. Snapchat
2. Pinterest
3. Tiktok

National Bureau of Economic Research

Effective flood-risk communications should include specific information on how householders can protect themselves and their property against flooding, a recent Dutch study concludes. The researchers’ evaluation of communication strategies also highlights an important role for social media in spreading messages about flood risk and protection.

Stakeholder support is essential to the success of environmental policies. A recent study has identified stakeholders that can promote biodiversity in European agricultural landscapes. The researchers found farmers were the most influential group of stakeholders, as they make the final decisions on land use. In turn, farmers are influenced in their decisions by a number of actors whose influence is perceived differently on a local and regional level.

A new study finds that the decision to vaccinate a child is as much social and cultural as it is science-based.

The artist of Colombian origin, Gael Morantes, recently released his new single titled "Mojaita", a song with a color and a sound different from what is usually heard in the urban movement.

Most optimization-based community detection approaches formulate the problem in a single or bi-objective framework. In this paper, we propose two variants of a three-objective formulation using a customized non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm III (NSGA-III) to find community structures in a network. In the first variant, named NSGA-III-KRM, we considered Kernel k means, Ratio cut, and Modularity, as the three objectives, whereas the second variant, named NSGA-III-CCM, considers Community score, Community fitness and Modularity, as three objective functions. Experiments are conducted on four benchmark network datasets. Comparison with state-of-the-art approaches along with decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm variants (MOEA/D-KRM and MOEA/D-CCM) indicates that the proposed variants yield comparable or better results. This is particularly significant because the addition of the third objective does not worsen the results of the other two objectives. We also propose a simple method to rank the Pareto solutions so obtained by proposing a new measure, namely the ratio of the hyper-volume and inverted generational distance (IGD). The higher the ratio, the better is the Pareto set. This strategy is particularly useful in the absence of empirical attainment function in the multi-objective framework, where the number of objectives is more than two.

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a search query input comprising one or more n-grams; parsing the search query input to identify keywords; generating query commands for the keywords. Each query command may specify: a particular object-type; one or more identifiers of one or more objects that match the search query input; and one or more types of relationships with respect to the objects. The method may further include searching a particular vertical that stores objects of the particular object-type having a relationship of the type of relationship with respect to one or more of the objects; generating a plurality of search-result modules corresponding to the query commands, each search-result module comprising references to objects of the particular object-type specified by the query command; and sending, to a client device, instructions for presenting an interface comprising one or more of the search-result modules.

Trisomy 13 and 18 are conditions with 1-year survival rates of less than 10% and have traditionally been treated with palliative care. There are increasing reports of ethical dilemmas caused by parental requests for clinical interventions.

Parents who belong to social networks report an enriching family experience and describe surviving children as happy. Many of these parents describe challenging encounters with health care providers. (Read the full article)

Previous studies have suggested that health care providers, family members, friends, and others play a role in shaping parents’ vaccination decisions. Other research has suggested that the media can influence whether parents decide to vaccinate their children.

Through the application of social network analysis, this study formally examines and quantifies how parents are influenced by the people and sources around them. Its findings suggest that social networks are important, particularly for parents who do not completely vaccinate. (Read the full article)

Szymon Talaga and Andrzej Nowak: Real-world social networks often exhibit high levels of clustering, positive degree assortativity, short average path lengths (small-world property) and right-skewed but rarely power law degree distributions. On the other hand homophily, defined as the propensity of similar agents to connect to each other, is one of the most fundamental social processes observed in many human and animal societies. In this paper we examine the extent to which homophily is sufficient to produce the typical structural properties of social networks. To do so, we conduct a simulation study based on the Social Distance Attachment (SDA) model, a particular kind of Random Geometric Graph (RGG), in which nodes are embedded in a social space and connection probabilities depend functionally on distances between nodes. We derive the form of the model from first principles based on existing analytical results and argue that the mathematical construction of RGGs corresponds directly to the homophily principle, so they provide a good model for it. We find that homophily, especially when combined with a random edge rewiring, is sufficient to reproduce many of the characteristic features of social networks. Additionally, we devise a hybrid model combining SDA with the configuration model that allows generating homophilic networks with arbitrary degree sequences and we use it to study interactions of homophily with processes imposing constraints on degree distributions. We show that the effects of homophily on clustering are robust with respect to distribution constraints, while degree assortativity can be highly dependent on the particular kind of enforced degree sequence.

CSED Working Paper No. 33: Physician Social Networks and Geographic Variation in Medical Care

Singapore : Springer, c2019.

Cham : Springer, 2019.

Shih, Clara Chung-wai

Displaying your social media network activity on your website can have tremendous advantages. It shows your readers that you’re an active participant in your niche and helps you establish yourself as a thought leader. The best part is that displaying your activity is fast and easy in WordPress.

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Displaying your social media network activity on your website can have tremendous advantages. It shows your readers that you’re an active participant in your niche and helps you establish yourself as a thought leader. The best part is that displaying your activity is fast and easy in WordPress.

complete article

Despite the huge popularity of social networking among teens, more respondents reported using Gmail than Snapchat or Facebook, June 2016 research uncovered. The only site used more than Gmail was YouTube, which is not surprising given the plethora of content and influencers available on the video-sharing site.

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We think the world is dominated by Facebook, but is it really the world’s favourite social network? And what about the second most popular social networks? Lets check the world map!

I won’t keep you hanging. Yes, Facebook is still the worlds most popular social network, and by far. But the following maps, designed by Vincenzo Cosenza, are still full of interesting – and sometimes surprising – insights on how the world uses social media platforms.

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Displaying your social media network activity on your website can have tremendous advantages. It shows your readers that you are an active participant in your niche and helps you establish yourself as a thought leader. The best part is that displaying your activity is fast and easy in WordPress.

complete article

Social media is quickly becoming the most important tool used for businesses. If you think social media is not worth your time then surely you are missing out on one of the most powerful social media marketing tools available to you. A number of brands have experimented with social bots that can help them improve their customer process. A growing amount of social media content is generated by autonomous entities known as social bots.

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If you have ever bought an item that a celebrity recommended on Twitter or been persuaded by a discussion with a Facebook friend, you know that social media can impact your behavior and opinions. But you might be surprised to know that there is a science behind social media interactions.

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Although Facebook is the most popular social network across generations, it is not as dominant with younger people as it is with older ones, according to recent research from Sprout Social.

The report was based on data from a survey conducted in January 2017 of 1,000 Millennials (age 18-34), Gen Xers (age 34-54), and Baby Boomers (age 55+) in the United States.

Some of 65% of Gen Xers as well as Baby Boomers say Facebook is their favorite social network.

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Some people might think that online privacy is, well, a private matter. If you don’t want personal information getting out online, then you can just not put it out there. Right? Wrong. Keeping your information private isn’t solely your choice anymore. Friends can play a big role in your privacy, new data show. And the more they share on a social network, the more that social network can figure out about you.

Someone who joins a social network — such as Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook —wants to find their friends. Often, the social network can help. Many apps offer to import contact lists from your phone or e-mail. These apps then use that information to find matches with people already in the network, and suggest them to you.

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There are some new products and services that are very obviously good  — a cure for a deadly disease, for example, or some other type of medical innovation. But other innovations have value that is more uncertain, such as an unproven technology. In her latest research paper, Wharton management professor Valentina Assenova examines the role of social networks, both online and offline, in the spread of these complex innovations.

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The network theory of attitudes is a simple idea that has profound implications, if true. This is the theory that when two people hold the same attitude, they are linked together as a result, like two people holding strings to the same balloon. When different people are holding the same bunch of attitudes, they are grouped together and different groups are distinguishable by the different sets of attitudes they are holding.

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I have been hearing a lot of marketers talk about social commerce, which is exactly what it sounds like: using social media networks to help sell products online. This may sound like a relatively new idea, but when you take a deeper look, social commerce was actually introduced by Yahoo in late 2005. At the time, things like product reviews and sharing wish lists were cutting edge, but that was one of the early examples of combining social networking with online commerce. Technology has since evolved, but the idea remains the same. To understand how to succeed in social commerce, here are five tips for using social networks to sell products online.

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Facebook, it seems, has noticed. Last week, The New York Times reported that Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg plans to unify Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram messaging on the backend of the services. This would make it possible for people relying on different flavors of Facebook apps to all gorge at the same messaging table. On the one hand, the move is truly Facebookian—just try to extricate yourself from Facebook, and it will try every which way to pull you back in. On the other hand, it makes sense for Facebook for a few reasons.

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Schools can not do it all. We have known this for a long time, yet we often seem to deny this reality in policy and action. For decades we have piled expectations onto our schools, asking them to develop scholars, citizens, and workers and to provide for the academic, nutritional, social, and developmental needs of children. Schools, as critics are quick to point out, invariably fall short of these expectations.

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March 13, millions of Facebook and Instagram users turned to Twitter to express their exasperation about the social media networks massive failure.

While many users observations were farcical in nature, there are very real economic ramifications for two of the worlds largest social media networks being offline for a significant amount of time.

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As it prepares to go public under the ticker PINS after filing its S-1 to the Securities Exchange Commission today (March 22), Pinterest said it would rather not be seen as a place like Facebook or Twitter.

The cold shoulder makes sense: Sites that algorithmically serve up content—Facebook, YouTube, Google, Instagram, and Twitter—remain under fire for their inability to moderate the environments on their own platforms.

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In March, in the aftermath of the Christchurch shooting, I tried to distinguish between internet problems and platform problems. Internet problems arise from the existence of a free and open network that connects most of the world; platform problems arise from features native to the platform. The fact that anti-vaccination zealots can meet online is an internet problem; the fact that Facebook recommended that new mothers join anti-vaccination groups is a platform problem.

The recent rise in white supremacist violence around the world has given us fresh reason to ask which aspects of the problem belong to the entire internet, and which belong to our biggest social networks. It seems apparent that the internet is cultivating loose but potent networks of extremists. But what are the mechanics of this radicalization? And what role could platforms play in discouraging it?

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Rogosch, Patricia

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020

Borgatti, Stephen P., author

Social networks can help merchants reach prospects, establish professional contacts, and research markets. They can also be a good way to share experiences and meet people.

Here is a list of new and emerging social networks for 2020. Some of the networks target specific user groups; others offer new ways to interact. These are networks for professional and social communication. Several of the networks are in beta or will launch in 2020.

13 New Social Networks for 2020

And just like that, we have reached the final issue of the year — and also, somehow, the decade. As is tradition around here, let’s close out the year with some predictions from you about where platforms and democracy are headed in 2020 and beyond.

Thanks to everyone who contributed. Here are your thoughts, along with some of mine. This year, I’m ordering these in roughly how likely I think they are. So, the most likely things to happen at the top, and we move further into crazy town as you scroll down. Generally speaking, I feel more comfortable predicting product moves than policy shifts.

16 predictions for social networks in 2020

Now that you have moved your work life to your home space you may find yourself overwhelmed with social networking distractions. I get it. I have been dealing with the constant beep, chirp, and tweet of social networking while working from home for 30 years. Dealing with all the interruptions is not easy.

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