1. Social Network Analysis
• ‘Asocial network is defined as a group of collaborating or competing
entities (actors) that are related to each other. Social Network
Analysis is an effective tool for investigating relations in an active
community of persons, which operates as a network.’ Jimoyiannis &
Angelaina (2012).
• Social networking analysis provides a set of procedures and
formulas that measure and give insight into the various
roles, groupings and power structures within a given network.
• Facebook is one of the major networking sites. I have chose to focus
on my own Facebook account and identified 10 nodes (people).
(refer: network diagram)
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3. Relationship between people (nodes)
a) Node 7 (account holder) is generally the active player in the
network and has the highest degree of centrality as the node is
connected to all other nodes. Node 7 is also the connector or hub
of the network. I have identified nodes 1, 6 and 5 as a ‘clique’ as
they know each other.
b) Family member (node 5) and friends (node 4 and 8) can also be
categorised as a clique.
c) Node 1 and 6 are structurally equivalent and 10 is the most
peripheral as it has the least connections.
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4. d) Node 4 and 5 have the highest closeness centrality because they
have quick access to other entities in this network.
e) Node 8 has the highest betweenness centrality due to its position
within the network in terms of its ability to make connections to other
groups in the network.
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5. Who Knows Who
• The role of degree centrality enables the account holder to
communicate with each node in the network. The account holder’s
connection with Family members, friends and colleagues hold them
as one unit.
• Based on the diagram, Friend 4 could be a close friend and
connected with 3 and 8 and knows family members 2 and 5.
• Similarly, family member 5 has an important role in this network. It is
identified that 5 is a friend of 4 and 8.
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6. Values of Social Networking Sites
• Trust in social networking sites
• Development of new relations
• Internet privacy concerns
• Information sharing
• Trust in other members of social networking
site
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7. Benefits
• Bridging online and offline social networks. Ellison, Steinfield, and
Lampe (2007) cited in Donelan, Kear & Ramage (2009) suggest that
Facebook is used to maintain exiting offline relationships or solidify
offline connections, as opposed to meeting new people.
• By using social network analysis, we can get more information about
who are the leaders, connectors, lurkers or isolates.
• Link between a pair of nodes represent the type of interaction, and
the amount of information exchanged between them.
• The number of people in each clique determines if the scope of
communication among participants is wide.
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8. Limitations
• This network analysis only focus on selected number of people and
can only analyse the role and communication activities between the
10 nodes.
• The network diagram does not reflect the account holder’s ‘true’
nature of relationship and the role within the network. The account
holder may have the highest degree of centrality but is not
necessary the most connected entity in the network.
• The boundaries between ‘nodes’ are inevitable and the amount of
interaction and communication between them can only be measured
based on activities such as chats, message postings and photo
sharing.
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9. Conclusion
Social network analysis is based on an assumption of the
importance of relationships among interacting units. By using
social network analysis we can access more information about
the group involved. Although it provides insight and ideas to
the group structures in a network, it is not without limitations.
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10. Bibliography
• JIMOYIANNIS, A. & ANGELAINA, S. (2012) Towards an analysis framework
for investigating students' engagement and learning in educational blogs.
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
• SAFKO, Lon and BRAKE, David K. (2009). The social media bible:
Tactics, tools, and strategies for business success. Hoboken, N.J Wiley
• DONELAN, Helen, KEAR, Karen and RAMAGE, Margaret (eds) (2009).
Online communication and collaboration: a reader. New York, Routledge
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