Comments on: The Structure of Your Social Network http://www.fridgebuzz.com/2007/05/28/the-structure-of-your-social-network/ Posts and pointers on software, art, math, noise, and other obsessions... Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:30:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: vanessa http://www.fridgebuzz.com/2007/05/28/the-structure-of-your-social-network/#comment-1092 vanessa Tue, 29 May 2007 14:28:58 +0000 http://www.fridgebuzz.com/2007/05/28/the-structure-of-your-social-network/#comment-1092 That's pretty cool, Nick. I'd like to see more of that kind of thing from more networking sites. Thanks for sharing. That’s pretty cool, Nick. I’d like to see more of that kind of thing from more networking sites. Thanks for sharing.

]]> By: Nick Hernandez http://www.fridgebuzz.com/2007/05/28/the-structure-of-your-social-network/#comment-1090 Nick Hernandez Tue, 29 May 2007 14:05:15 +0000 http://www.fridgebuzz.com/2007/05/28/the-structure-of-your-social-network/#comment-1090 Xigi.net is designed to develop the field of social investing, so the network mapping is not all inclusive, but it does have some of the functionality mentioned. Here is my network map: http://www.xigi.net/index.php?map=person&map_person=1314. Xigi.net is designed to develop the field of social investing, so the network mapping is not all inclusive, but it does have some of the functionality mentioned. Here is my network map: http://www.xigi.net/index.php?map=person&map_person=1314.

]]> By: vanessa http://www.fridgebuzz.com/2007/05/28/the-structure-of-your-social-network/#comment-1084 vanessa Mon, 28 May 2007 18:03:19 +0000 http://www.fridgebuzz.com/2007/05/28/the-structure-of-your-social-network/#comment-1084 Hi Alex! Nice to hear from you after so long. You make many good points. There are indeed a ton of interesting ways to view social network data. I guess seeing the basic structure of my own network is just a reasonable place to start. In a perfect world, the data would be openly available and we could do the analysis and visualization any way which suited us (mashup possibilities for everyone!) But I can't see that ever happening :-( Perhaps completely anonymized data might be released but that would have limited value. (Actually, I can almost think of a way you could release the entire data set to everyone and yet allow each person to view only the details of their own first and second degree contacts... can't say as I'd hold my breath waiting for someone at LinkedIn to be bothered with such crypto trickery, though!) Thanks for stopping by. Hmm... now I have to go look for you on LinkedIn. Don't think you're in my network yet :) Hi Alex! Nice to hear from you after so long.

You make many good points. There are indeed a ton of interesting ways to view social network data. I guess seeing the basic structure of my own network is just a reasonable place to start.

In a perfect world, the data would be openly available and we could do the analysis and visualization any way which suited us (mashup possibilities for everyone!) But I can’t see that ever happening :-( Perhaps completely anonymized data might be released but that would have limited value. (Actually, I can almost think of a way you could release the entire data set to everyone and yet allow each person to view only the details of their own first and second degree contacts… can’t say as I’d hold my breath waiting for someone at LinkedIn to be bothered with such crypto trickery, though!)

Thanks for stopping by. Hmm… now I have to go look for you on LinkedIn. Don’t think you’re in my network yet :)

]]> By: Alex Beamish http://www.fridgebuzz.com/2007/05/28/the-structure-of-your-social-network/#comment-1083 Alex Beamish Mon, 28 May 2007 17:09:16 +0000 http://www.fridgebuzz.com/2007/05/28/the-structure-of-your-social-network/#comment-1083 The question about network visualization is a really good one, but I bet there are any number of ways to show the interrelationships, and LinkedIn just hasn't figured out the best way to do that yet. The most obvious way would be with the subscriber in the center, with the first rank of neighbours surrounding them on the points of a circle, and the second rank of neighbours going radially out from there. However, it might also be interesting to have people in different fields on different levels, so that you could mask out or mask in just those levels. It might also be interesting to see who's close to you geographically. I'm also wondering of there's going to be some sort of Meetup/LinkedIn mashup where LinkedIn sub-nets get together for a beer somewhere -- at least everyone there would have someone in common, if not a topic of conversation. Alex The question about network visualization is a really good one, but I bet there are any number of ways to show the interrelationships, and LinkedIn just hasn’t figured out the best way to do that yet.

The most obvious way would be with the subscriber in the center, with the first rank of neighbours surrounding them on the points of a circle, and the second rank of neighbours going radially out from there. However, it might also be interesting to have people in different fields on different levels, so that you could mask out or mask in just those levels. It might also be interesting to see who’s close to you geographically.

I’m also wondering of there’s going to be some sort of Meetup/LinkedIn mashup where LinkedIn sub-nets get together for a beer somewhere — at least everyone there would have someone in common, if not a topic of conversation.

Alex

]]>