SOCIAL NETWORKS
Network of stakeholders.
Graph built using Pajek.
Animated by... hand.
What are networks?
Networks are groups of elements linked between them.
Nets are commonly represented by graphs, but they really
store lots of information. This is very true when
dealing with real networks, such as social networks,
protein networks, etc.
What are social networks?
Social networks are networks that are related to people.
For example, a friendship network (the nodes are people
and the links are the friendship relationship). Nodes
can also be groups of people or other things related to
people, like roles. For example, an organizational chart
might be considered a social network that represents a
formal organization (in contrast to friendship, the which
can be considered pretty informal).
Social networks are a way to study and understand the
social structure. Social networks might be considered
microsociology, but also a way to link microsociology
to macrosociology.
What is social structure?
Human organizations are not chaotic things, despite their
inherent randomness. Human organizations then acquire
some kind of order. Social structure is the concept
that references this social order.
Somehow, the concept of social structure was related to
a static structure, that does not change much in time.
But the dynamics of networks are showing the dynamic
side of the structure, thus showing how structure and
process are very related. Well, now we can say that
structure and process are different points of view
about the same fenomena.
What are complex networks?
Complex networks are networks that are not easy to
understand. Those do not have simple structures or simple
mechanisms behind them (in opposition to, for example,
a grid).
Social networks are complex networks. Many social networks
show the power law distribution of node degrees,
a distribution that appears in many complex networks. Also,
many of them have the small world property.
Stuff related to complex, social and economic networks
SURVEYS: Want to learn
something good? Here I placed some surveys and notes
on networks. These are very good and easy to understand.
LINKS: It is my duty to
contribute to the WWW network! Those are good links.
Mauricio Monsalve Moreno, 2007
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