Online social networks

It's All About Networking! Empirical Investigation of Social Capital Formation on Social Network Sites

by Natasha Veltri

Koroleva, K., Krasnova, H., Veltri, N.F., Günther, O. (2011) “It’s All About Networking! Empirical Investigation of Social Capital Formation on Social Network Sites,” proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems, Shanghai, China.

The role of national cultural differences in user adoption of social networking

by Natasha Veltri

Veltri, N.F., Elgarah, W. (2009) “The Role of National Cultural Differences in User Adoption of Social Networking,” proceedings of the Southern Association of Information Systems Conference, Charleston, SC.

Large Social Networks can be Targeted for Viral Marketing with Small Seed Sets

by Paulo Shakarian

Paulo Shakarian, Damon Paulo, IEEE/ACM ASONAM 2012

In a "tipping" model, each node in a social network, representing an individual, adopts a behavior if a... more In a "tipping" model, each node in a social network, representing an individual, adopts a behavior if a certain number of his incoming neighbors previously held that property.  A key problem for viral marketers is to determine an initial "seed" set in a network such that if given a property then the entire network adopts the behavior.  Here we introduce a method for quickly finding seed sets that scales to very large networks.  Our approach finds a set of nodes that guarantees spreading to the entire network under the tipping model.  After experimentally evaluating 31 real-world networks, we found that our approach often finds such sets that are several orders of magnitude smaller than the population size.  Our approach also scales well - on a Friendster social network consisting of 5.6 million nodes and 28 million edges we found a seed sets in under 3.6 hours.  We also find that highly clustered local neighborhoods and dense network-wide community structure together suppress the ability of a trend to spread under the tipping model.

Online Components of Social Capital

by András Déri

Paper presented at the International Conference on Communication, Media, Technology and Design, Istanbul, 10 May 2012.
For referring to this paper please check the original link of the conference publication, this version is clearer and more readable.

Increasingly widespread online presence has significantly changed typical ways of contacting others and maintaining... more Increasingly widespread online presence has significantly changed typical ways of contacting others and maintaining social connections. Traditionally, social capital has been described as a resource that lies in a person’s social connections, or – as a collective characteristic – social networks, which lead to reciprocity, solidarity and trust. The advent of social media fundamentally has challenged sociologists’ views on what the components of social capital are and how social ties build up networks and indicate the resources within an individual’s networks. I argue that for a better understanding of online social capital, we have to differentiate between two different types of online connections: connections based on mutual acquaintance and connections based on online activities. While the characteristics of network capital (defined as productive combinations of social connections, technology, and technological skills) can be found in both types of online connections, it is latent ties that are more characteristic of connections based on online activities.

Self-disclosure and Privacy Calculus on Social Networking Sites: The Role of Culture

by Natasha Veltri

Krasnova H., Veltri, N.F., Günther, O. (2012) “Self-disclosure and Privacy Calculus on Social Networking Sites: The Role of Culture,” Business & Information Systems Engineering, 3, 127-135.

Comparative Analysis of Recognition and Competition as Features of Social Influence Using Twitter

by Agnis Stibe

Co-authored with Prof. Harri Oinas-Kukkonen.
Published in Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Persuasive Technology, M. Bang and E.L. Ragnemalm (Eds.): PERSUASIVE 2012, LNCS 7284, pp. 274–279, Linköping, Sweden, June 6-8, 2012.

This paper studies how and to what extent social influence design principles can persuade people to participate in... more This paper studies how and to what extent social influence design principles can persuade people to participate in sharing their feedback. For this reason, a Twitter-based system was designed with persuasive software features of social influence at its core. The effects of recognition and competition features were tested in a pilot study in two computer rooms simultaneously. Their effects on the behavior of simulated airline travelers were compared. The main result of this study provides evidence of several positive effects, especially regarding the persuasive powers of recognition in a system’s design.

Online Social Networks Impact in Secondary Education

by Daniyal Al Ghazzawi

Habib M. Fardoun, Sebastián Romero López, Victor M. R. Penichet, Jose A. Gallud

This paper presents and analyzes the potential uses and motivations of online social networks in education, with... more This paper presents and analyzes the potential uses and motivations of online social networks in education, with special emphasis on secondary education. First, we show several previous researches supporting the use of social networking as an educational tool and discuss Edmodo, an educative online social network. The work carried out during two academic years with senior students of primary and secondary schools is also analyzed. This research has allowed us to see the reality of social network use among young people and identify the challenges of its application to education environment.

An overview study of Twitter in the UK local government

by Panos Panagiotopoulos

Transforming Government workshop, Brunel University, London May 2012

Klout, la medición de la influencia digital

by Javier Serrano Puche

Published in 'Perspectivas del mundo de la comunicación', nº 68, enero-febrero de 2012, pp. 4-5.

Klout es una herramienta web que evalúa la influencia de una persona o marca a través de la monitorización de su uso... more Klout es una herramienta web que evalúa la influencia de una persona o marca a través de la monitorización de su uso de las redes sociales. Su éxito demuestra la creciente importancia de detectar quiénes son los líderes de opinión en el ámbito digital

Categorizing and measuring social ties

by Juuso Karikoski

Nelimarkka, M. and Karikoski, J., 2012. Categorizing and measuring social ties. In: RC33 Eighth International Conference on Social Science Methodology. Sydney, Australia, July 9-13 2012.

The length of bridge ties: structural and geographic properties of online social interactions

by David Laniado

Co-authored with Yana Volkovich, Salvatore Scellato, Cecilia Mascolo and Andreas Kaltenbrunner.
Accepted at ICWSM 2012 (Dublin, Ireland, June 2012)

The popularity of theWeb has allowed individuals to communicate and interact with each other on a global scale: people... more The popularity of theWeb has allowed individuals to communicate and interact with each other on a global scale: people connect both to close friends and acquaintances, creating ties that can bridge otherwise separated groups of people. Recent evidence suggests that spatial distance is still affecting social links established on online platforms, with online ties preferentially connecting closer people.
In this work we study the relationships between interaction strength, spatial distance and structural position of ties between members of a large-scale online social networking platform, Tuenti. We discover that ties in highly connected social groups tend to span shorter distances than connections bridging together otherwise separated portions of the network. We also find that such bridging connections have lower social interaction levels than ties within the inner core of the network and ties connecting to its periphery. Our results suggest that spatial constraints on online social networks are intimately connected to structural network properties, with important consequences for information diffusion.

Rural Development Networks: A Mapping Exercise

by Martine Miller

Learning without a distance: Networked learning

by Paul Bouchard

GED: The Method for Group Evolution Discovery in Social Networks

by Piotr Bródka

Bródka P., Saganowski P., Kazienko P.: GED: The Method for Group Evolution Discovery in Social Networks, Social Network Analysis and Mining, DOI:10.1007/s13278-012-0058-8

OPEN ACCESS

http://www.ii.pwr.wroc.pl/~brodka/ged.php

The continuous interest in the social network area contributes to the fast development of this field. The new... more The continuous interest in the social network area contributes to the fast development of this field. The new possibilities of obtaining and storing data facilitate deeper analysis of the entire network, extracted social groups and single individuals as well. One of the most interesting research topic is the dynamics of social groups, it means analysis of group evolution over time. Having appropriate knowledge and methods for dynamic analysis, one may attempt to predict the future of the group, and then manage it properly in order to achieve or change this predicted future according to specific needs. Such ability would be a powerful tool in the hands of human resource managers, personnel recruitment, marketing, etc.

The social group evolution consists of individual events and seven types of such changes have been identified in the paper: continuing, shrinking, growing, splitting, merging, dissolving and forming. To enable the analysis of group evolution a change indicator – inclusion measure was proposed. It has been used in a new method for exploring the evolution of social groups, called Group Evolution Discovery (GED).

Does mobile technology support peer learning for Key Stage 3 children?

by Elizabeth FitzGerald (née Brown)

Full citation:
Alsugair, B.A., Hopkins, G., Brailsford, T. and E. FitzGerald (2011) Does mobile technology support peer learning for Key Stage 3 children? Paper accepted to the 7th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE'11), Nottingham, UK, 25-28 July 2011, pp 362-365.

It has been estimated that 85.5% of school aged children own a mobile phone in the UK from which 29% of them access... more It has been estimated that 85.5% of school aged children own a mobile phone in the UK from which 29% of them access the Internet. It is assumed that this ownership provides the children with the opportunity to establish and maintain social connections with their fellow peers. According to Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory this social interaction with peers plays a role in children’s cognitive development that has been exploited in modern educational systems in various ways.
This ongoing research aims to make further use of this association between ownership of mobile devices, social interaction and learning by ultimately introducing a technological solution for children to communicate with their peers and access peer generated content. It will investigate whether the mobility and the information source; peer versus non-peer, enhances children’s learning. Two separate investigations have been conducted, so far, to determine the sources and the tools children use to obtain support for their learning. A survey of 74 Key Stage 3 children and two focus group sessions with 34 similar age children found that they actively use technologies, such as Facebook, SMS and email, to establish peer interaction.

Online Political Participation: Slacktivism or Efficiency Increased Activism? Evidence from the Brazilian Ficha Limpa Campaign

by Anita Breuer

Co-authored with Bilal Farooq (EPFL, Lausanne), prepared for delivery at the ISA Annual Confernce, San Diego, 1 April 2012

Communication via the Internet and online social networking sites (SNS) has come to form an inherent part of most... more Communication via the Internet and online social networking sites (SNS) has come to form an inherent part of most political campaigns today. Yet the potential of online activism to bring about political change is debated. While its advocates insist on its positive contribution to participatory democracy, critics dismiss it as a “slacktivist” activity that carries little societal benefit. Our analysis of the Brazilian anti-corruption campaign Ficha Limpa, which was primarily promoted through social media channels, picks up on this debate. After discussing the campaign’s impact on the macro- and meso-level of the Brazilian political system, we proceed to analyze its impact
on the micro level of individual participation using original survey data concerning citizens’ online and offline behaviour in the context of this campaign. We find that the low-effort online activities typically offered by entertainment orientated SNS contribute little to increase political participation. In turn, targeted campaigning by e-advocacy groups has the potential to increase the political engagement of individuals with low levels of political interest and can help to produce the switch from online to offline participation among individuals with high levels of political interest.

The Social Media Basis of Youth Protest Behavior: The Case of Chile

by Sebastián Valenzuela

Co-authored with Arturo Arriagada and Andrés Scherman; published in the 'Journal of Communication,' vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 299-314 (2012)

Protest activity has become a central means for political change in Chile. We examine the association between social... more Protest activity has become a central means for political change in Chile. We examine the association between social media use and youth protest, as well as mediating and moderating mechanisms of this relationship, using survey data collected in Chile in 2010. We found that Facebook use was associated significantly with protest activity, even after taking into account political grievances, material and psychological resources, values, and news media use. The link between overall Facebook use and protest activity was explained by using the social network for news and socializing rather than when it was used for
self-expression. Postmaterialist values and political ideologies were not found to moderate the association between Facebook use and protest.

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING: SERBIAN PARENTS NETWORK CASE STUDY DRUŠTVENE MREŽE U …

by Nikolina Ljepava

A System to Filter Unwanted Messages from OSN User Walls

by Marco Vanetti

Marco Vanetti, Elisabetta Binaghi, Elena Ferrari, Barbara Carminati and Moreno Carullo.

To be published in "IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE)".

One fundamental issue in today On-line Social Networks (OSNs) is to give users the ability to control the messages... more One fundamental issue in today On-line Social Networks (OSNs) is to give users the ability to control the messages posted on their own private space to avoid that unwanted content is displayed. Up to now OSNs provide little support to this requirement. To fill the gap, in this paper, we propose a system allowing OSN users to have a direct control on the messages posted on their walls. This is achieved through a flexible rule-based system, that allows users to customize the filtering criteria to be applied to their walls, and a Machine Learning based soft classifier automatically labeling messages in support of content-based filtering.

Content-based Filtering in On-line Social Networks

by Marco Vanetti

Marco Vanetti, Elisabetta Binaghi, Barbara Carminati, Moreno Carullo and Elena Ferrari.

Published in "Privacy and Security Issues in Data Mining and Machine Learning - Proceedings of International ECML/PKDD Workshop, PSDML 2010". Pages 127-140, Barcelona, Spain, September 24, 2010.

This paper proposes a system enforcing content-based message filtering for On-line Social Networks (OSNs). The system... more This paper proposes a system enforcing content-based message filtering for On-line Social Networks (OSNs). The system allows OSN users to have a direct control on the messages posted on their walls. This is achieved through a flexible rule-based system, that allows a user to customize the filtering criteria to be applied to their walls, and a Machine Learning based soft classifier automatically labelling messages in support of content-based filtering.