Social Networks

Abhimanyu Dhamija
Munish Minia

Abhishek Kumar
Priyank Sharma

Outline

Introduction
Origin of Social Networks
Social Network Analysis
Types of Social Networks
References

What is social
network?
Wikipedia definition-A social network is a social
structure made of individuals (or organizations)
called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or
more specific types of interdependency, such as
friendship, kinship, financial exchange, dislike or
relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige
Social networking is the grouping of individuals into
specific groups, like small rural communities or a
neighborhood subdivision, if you will.

Social Networks
Not a new concept, (6 degrees of separation)
Ramsey theorem-At any party with at least six
people, there are three people who are all either
mutual acquaintances or mutual strangers
People typically maintain 10-20 close relationships
among thousands of acquaintances
Metcalfs Law value of a network increases n2 to #
of participants
Not exactly, but in theory.
Dependent upon interaction model

Online social
networking
Social sites commonly used.
Online community of internet users
Common interests in hobbies, religion, or
politics.
Socialize on sites by reading the profile
pages of other members and possibly even
contacting them.

Origin of social
sites
Social network sites (SNSs) such as such as Friendster,
CyWorld, and MySpace allow individuals to present
themselves, articulate their social networks, and
establish or maintain connections with others.
These sites can be oriented towards work-related
contexts (e.g., LinkedIn.com), romantic relationship
initiation (the original goal of Friendster.com),
connecting those with shared interests such as music or
politics (e.g., MySpace.com), or the college student
population (the original incarnation of Facebook.com).

Popular social
networking sites

Personal sites-Myspace,orkut,Cyworld
Professional/work related-LinkedIn
Romantic relationship initiation-friendster
Microblogging-Twitter
Music-last.fm
Movies-flickster
Photos/pictures-flickr

Social Network
Analysis
We measure Social Network in terms of:
1. Degree Centrality: The number of direct connections a
node has. What really matters is where those
connections lead to and how they connect the otherwise
unconnected.
2. Betweenness Centrality: A node with high betweenness
has great influence over what flows in the network
indicating important links and single point of failure.
3. Closeness CentralityThe degree an individual is near all

other individuals in a network (directly or indirectly). It

reflects the ability to access information through the
network .

Why internet is
popular mean for
social networking

The Internet is powerful because it bridges distance

at a low cost
When people first meet online they tend to like
each other more
Less stressful than face-to-face meeting
Superficialities aside people focus on
communicating their selves

Social network
as a graph
Nodes: A Unit That Possibly is Connected
Individuals, Households, Workgroups ,
Organizations, States
Relationships (A Specific Type of Connection)
A Role Relationship
Gives Emotional Support
Links Web Page

Social network
as a
graph(conti.)

Ties (Contain One or More Relationships)

Friendship (with possibly many relationships)
Affiliations (Person Organization)
Works for IBM; ACM Member; Football Team
One-Mode, Two-Mode Networks

An example of a social
Network diagram. The
node with the highest
Betweenness centrality
is marked in yellow.

A Network is
More Than The
Sum of Its Ties

A Network Consists of One or More Nodes Could be

Persons, Organizations, Groups, Nations, Web Connected
by One or More Ties
Could be One or More Relationships That Form Distinct,
Analyzable Patterns
Can Study Patterns of Relationships OR Ties
Emergent Properties

Types of social
networkers
Alpha Socialisers (a minority) people who
used sites in intense short bursts to flirt,meet
new people, and be entertained.
Attention Seekers (some) people who craved
attention and comments from others,often by
posting photos and customising their profiles.
Followers (many) people who joined sites to
keep up with what their peers were doing.

Types of social
networkers(conti.)
Faithfuls (many) people who typically used
social networking sites to rekindle old
friendships, often from school or university.
Functionals (a minority) people who tended
to be single-minded in using sites for a
particular purpose.
Source: Ofcom Social Networking Sites
research, September-October 2007

Privacy concerns
Social networking sites provide privacy options but
users are generally unaware or tend to ignore such
concerns
Stalkers, terrorists, ill-doers, con-artists could
benefit from such issues
Recent scandals-England :MI-6s directors wife
puts up photos of family on facebook.
Facebooks controversial decision to make visible
relationship actions to entire social group

Security issues
Recent malware exploiting social networks

Malicious Banner ads

Adware
Phishing attacks
Customizable scripts

Social and
Psychological
issues

Increasing relationships but decreasing intimacy

References
www.ischool.utexas.edu/~i385q/archive/shar
ma_social_networks.ppt
http://www.pr.com/pressrelease/214190cs.nyu.edu/~jchen/socialnetw
orks.ppt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network
http://www.forrester.com

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_netw
orking_websites
https://tribeca.db.toronto.edu/seminar/social/att
achment/wiki/Schedule/social-networks-forcs.pdf?format=raw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_netw
orking_websites

Thank You for your Patience