A model of social network formation under the impact of structural balance

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (09) ◽  
pp. 1650051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei Li ◽  
Jiajun Cheng ◽  
Yingwen Chen ◽  
Hui Wang

Social networks have attracted remarkable attention from both academic and industrial societies and it is of great importance to understand the formation of social networks. However, most existing research cannot be applied directly to investigate social networks, where relationships are heterogeneous and structural balance is a common phenomenon. In this paper, we take both positive and negative relationships into consideration and propose a model to characterize the process of social network formation under the impact of structural balance. In this model, a new node first establishes a link with an existing node and then tries to connect to each of the newly connected node’s neighbors. If a new link is established, the type of this link is determined by structural balance. Then we analyze the degree distribution of the generated network theoretically, and estimate the fractions of positive and negative links. All analysis results are verified by simulations. These results are of importance to understand the formation of social networks, and the model can be easily extended to consider more realistic situations.

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (13) ◽  
pp. 1550079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei Li ◽  
Yini Zhang ◽  
Su He ◽  
Hui Wang

Social networks have attracted remarkable attention and it is of great importance to understand the process of opinion spreading in popular social networks. However, most research on diffusion cannot be applied directly to investigate social networks, where relationships are heterogeneous and structural balance is a common phenomenon. In this paper, we propose models to characterize the process of opinion spreading in signed social networks under the impact of structural balance. We classify users into different types according to the numbers of their positive links, and define the term user influence to represent the average number of times that users are influenced, which is incurred by a user spreading an opinion. We then propose an approach to analyze the user influence theoretically and the analysis accuracy is verified by simulations. We observe that the user influence increases with user type and also increases with the fraction of negative links in the network if this fraction value exceeds some point. That's to say, negative relationships may enhance opinion spreading if we consider the impact of structural balance, which is an interesting result.


2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 237-246
Author(s):  
Tomas Hellström

This paper presents a qualitative study of mechanisms enabling social network formation in the R&D unit of a large technology-based organization. Drawing on interviews with 37 high-level technical and administrative unit members, a number of social network enablers could be discerned, which related to the need for effective location mechanisms, special “enrolment spaces”, and mechanisms for forging contacts. It was also possible to identify a number of higher-order factors for facilitation of network formation, namely hierarchical enablers and communicative and assimilative factors. Based on these results, the paper makes suggestions as to the theoretical and practical significance of social network enabling mechanisms in R&D organizations.


Author(s):  
Laurette T. Liesen

During the 1980s and 1990s, feminist evolutionists were instrumental in demonstrating that primate females, including girls and women, can be aggressive and seek status within their groups. Building on their insights, researchers from across disciplines have found that females use a variety of direct and indirect tactics as they pursue their reproductive success. To better understand women’s aggression and status seeking, one also must examine their social networks. Women must not only deal with the dynamics within their groups, they also must deal with pressures from other groups. Success in maintaining connections in one’s social network is vital for access to the various resources women need for their own reproductive success and to keep competitors in check. Overall, women’s social networks, while serving both supportive and competitive functions, profoundly impact on the reproductive future of women and especially the survival and future reproductive strategies of their children.


2004 ◽  
Vol 07 (01) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICOLAS CARAYOL ◽  
PASCALE ROUX

This paper develops a framework for studying social network formation. Partly built upon a formalism used in theoretical economics, the network formation process we introduce is locally driven by agents who maximize a given individual payoff function. We examine two simple models and observe the limiting distributions of stochastically stable networks. We find that these networks share some of the features observed for social networks. In particular, we find critical values of the parameters for which the selected networks exhibit small world properties.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina B. Gesell ◽  
Kimberly D. Bess ◽  
Shari L. Barkin

Background. Antiobesity interventions have generally failed. Research now suggests that interventions must be informed by an understanding of the social environment.Objective. To examine if new social networks form between families participating in a group-level pediatric obesity prevention trial.Methods. Latino parent-preschool child dyads (N=79) completed the 3-month trial. The intervention met weekly in consistent groups to practice healthy lifestyles. The control met monthly in inconsistent groups to learn about school readiness. UCINET and SIENA were used to examine network dynamics.Results. Children’s mean age was 4.2 years (SD=0.9), and 44% were overweight/obese (BMI≥85th percentile). Parents were predominantly mothers (97%), with a mean age of 31.4 years (SD=5.4), and 81% were overweight/obese (BMI≥25). Over the study, a new social network evolved among participating families. Parents selectively formed friendship ties based on child BMI z-score, (t=2.08;P<.05). This reveals the tendency for mothers to form new friendships with mothers whose children have similar body types.Discussion. Participating in a group-level intervention resulted in new social network formation. New ties were greatest with mothers who had children of similar body types. This finding might contribute to the known inability of parents to recognize child overweight.


Author(s):  
František Dařena ◽  
Alexander Troussov ◽  
Jan Žižka

The social-network formation and analysis is nowadays one of objects that are in a focus of intensive research. The objective of the paper is to suggest the perspective of representing social networks as graphs, with the application of the graph theory to problems connected with studying the network-like structures and to study spreading activation algorithm for reasons of analyzing these structures. The paper presents the process of modeling multidimensional networks by means of directed graphs with several characteristics. The paper also demonstrates using Spreading Activation algorithm as a good method for analyzing multidimensional network with the main focus on recommender systems. The experiments showed that the choice of parameters of the algorithm is crucial, that some kind of constraint should be included and that the algorithm is able to provide a stable environment for simulations with networks.


Author(s):  
Ana Maria Moreno Bruna ◽  
Patrick Goethals

Abstract Contemporary research on language and intercultural learning during study abroad programs has led scholars to challenge the immersion assumption and to argue the need for interventions that would deepen and extend the learning potential of this experience (Jackson, 2018). In an attempt to underscore this point, this paper reports on an experimental study which explores the impact of a pedagogical intervention where two groups of Flemish students (n = 34) are tracked during their Erasmus stay in Spain. One group of students (n = 14) is enrolled in the intervention and encouraged to engage in linguistically and culturally challenging encounters while the other group is not (n = 20). Both language use and social network formation are examined through an extended version of the SASIQ questionnaire (Dewey et al., 2013), completed following their experience abroad. Although it is not straightforward to grasp the influence of such curricular initiatives on learner interaction and language contact abroad, results from the study are consistent with previous findings on the importance of fostering social interactions for L2 development. Furthermore, a number of social network variables also point out how L2 self-perceived progress can be fostered abroad.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 58-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Resch ◽  
José Pedro Amorim

Higher education has become increasingly mobile and international, with many students taking the opportunity to study abroad during their studies. When they do so, forming and maintaining social networks is fundamental for their development of a sense of social inclusion. According to Coleman’s model of concentric circles, international students can establish networks with students from their own country (inner circle), with other international students (middle circle) and with local students (outer circle). This study explores various formats of organised student encounters in these three circles which contribute to the social inclusion of international students. The article is based on desk research of 15 formats of intercultural student encounters which facilitate social network formation during a study placement abroad in six countries in Europe. The findings show that all the studied formats of organised student encounters facilitate social networks in the middle and outer circles, while those in the inner circle are established by the students themselves and through informal social interaction. Formats embedded in the curriculum are most suited to facilitating social network formation throughout the academic year. Extracurricular formats, in contrast, tend to be single occasion activities without follow‐up. The study shows that universities can facilitate social network formation and assist social inclusion for international students through organised encounters in which international and local students meet. Organising such encounters does, however, require resources, evaluation, and adequate funding.


Author(s):  
Matthew O. Jackson ◽  
Brian W. Rogers ◽  
Yves Zenou

What is the role of social networks in driving persistent differences between races and genders in education and labor market outcomes? What is the role of homophily in such differences? Why is such homophily seen even if it ends up with negative consequences in terms of labor markets? This chapter discusses social network analysis from the perspective of economics. The chapter is organized around the theme of externalities: the effects that one’s behavior has on others’ welfare. Externalities underlie the interdependencies that make networks interesting to social scientists. This chapter discusses network formation, as well as interactions between people’s behaviors within a given network, and the implications in a variety of settings. Finally, the chapter highlights some empirical challenges inherent in the statistical analysis of network-based data.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 13971-13972
Author(s):  
Yang Qi ◽  
Farseev Aleksandr ◽  
Filchenkov Andrey

Nowadays, social networks play a crucial role in human everyday life and no longer purely associated with spare time spending. In fact, instant communication with friends and colleagues has become an essential component of our daily interaction giving a raise of multiple new social network types emergence. By participating in such networks, individuals generate a multitude of data points that describe their activities from different perspectives and, for example, can be further used for applications such as personalized recommendation or user profiling. However, the impact of the different social media networks on machine learning model performance has not been studied comprehensively yet. Particularly, the literature on modeling multi-modal data from multiple social networks is relatively sparse, which had inspired us to take a deeper dive into the topic in this preliminary study. Specifically, in this work, we will study the performance of different machine learning models when being learned on multi-modal data from different social networks. Our initial experimental results reveal that social network choice impacts the performance and the proper selection of data source is crucial.


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