This document introduces NodeXL, a tool for semantic and social network analysis of social media. NodeXL allows users to collect and visualize network data from various social media sources. It aims to make network analysis accessible to people without technical backgrounds. The tool has been used to analyze networks on topics like discussions around contraception on Twitter. NodeXL identifies influential users and contrasts discussions between different groups within the network.

2. Semantic and
Social Network
Analysis of Social
Media with
NodeXL
A project from the Social Media Research Foundation: http://www.smrfoundation.org

3. Social Media Research Foundation
http://smrfoundation.org

4. Social Media Research Foundation
People Disciplines Institutions
University Computer Science University of Maryland
Faculty
Students HCI, CSCW Oxford Internet Institute
Industry Machine Learning Stanford University
Independent Information Visualization Microsoft Research
Researchers UI/UX Illinois Institute of
Technology
Developers Social Science/Sociology Connected Action
Network Analysis Cornell
Collective Action Morningside Analytics

5. About Me
Introductions
Marc A. Smith
Chief Social Scientist
Connected Action Consulting Group
Marc@connectedaction.net
http://www.connectedaction.net
http://www.codeplex.com/nodexl
http://www.twitter.com/marc_smith
http://delicious.com/marc_smith/Paper
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marc_smith
http://www.facebook.com/marc.smith.sociologist
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marcasmith
http://www.slideshare.net/Marc_A_Smith
http://www.smrfoundation.org

6. Like MSPaint™ for graphs

7. What we are trying to do:
Open Tools, Open Data, Open Scholarship
• Build the “Firefox of GraphML” – open tools for
collecting and visualizing social media data
• Connect users to network analysis – make
network charts as easy as making a pie chart
• Connect researchers to social media data sources
• Archive: Be the “Allen Very Large Telescope Array”
for Social Media data – coordinate and aggregate
the results of many user’s data collection and
analysis
• Create open access research papers & findings
• Make “collections of connections” easy for users
to manage

8. What we have done: Open Tools
• NodeXL
• Data providers (“spigots”)
– ThreadMill Message Board
– Exchange Enterprise Email
– Voson Hyperlink
– SharePoint
– Facebook
– Twitter
– YouTube
– Flickr

9. What we have done: Open Data
• NodeXLGraphGallery.org
– User generated collection
of network graphs,
datasets and annotations
– Collective repository for
the research community
– Published collections of
data from a range of social
media data sources to help
students and researchers
connect with data of
interest and relevance

11. Now Available

12. Group-in-a-box Layout

13. #teaparty
15 November 2011
#occupywallstreet
15 November 2011
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/11/occupy-vs-tea-party-what-their.html

15. This graph represents a
directed network of
1,360 Twitter users
whose recent tweets
contained "contraceptive
OR contraception". The
network was obtained
on Friday, 08 June 2012
at 13:22 UTC. There is
an edge for each follows
relationship. There is an
edge for each "replies-
to" relationship in a
tweet. There is an edge
for each "mentions"
relationship in a
tweet. There is a self-
loop edge for each tweet
that is not a "replies-to"
or "mentions". The
tweets were made over
the 2-day period from
Thursday, 07 June 2012
at 18:46 UTC to Friday,
08 June 2012 at 13:06
UTC. The graph's
vertices were grouped by
cluster using the Clauset-
Newman-Moore cluster
algorithm. The edge
colors are based on
relationship values. The
vertex sizes are based on
each user’s number of
followers. Table 1
reports the summary
network metrics that
describe the graph.

16. Summary network metrics
Table 1. Summary network metrics for the graph in Figure 1
Network Metric Value
Graph Type Directed
Vertices 1360
Unique Edges 5641
Edges With Duplicates 771
Total Edges 6412
Self-Loops 1096
Connected Components 427
Single-Vertex Connected Components 395
Maximum Vertices in a Connected Component 880
Max Edges in a Connected Component 5818
Maximum Geodesic Distance (Diameter) 12
Average Geodesic Distance 3.557807
Graph Density 0.002705817
Modularity 0.446145

17. The Vertices spreadsheet lists users who contributed a
tweet containing the terms “contraception OR
contraceptives” over two days in early June 2012. Users are
ranked by their computed betweenness centrality within
the network of follows, replies, and mentions edges. The
top 10 vertices, ranked by betweenness centrality are the
accounts at the center of the network. These include:
@thinkprogress, @gatesfoundation, @SandraFluke,
@maleeek, @Change, @foxandfriends, @melindagates,
@AshleyJudd, @cnalive, and @SOHLTC.

18. NodeXL calculates
network metrics and
word pairs

19. Contrasting groups

20. The Content summary
spreadsheet displays the most
frequently used URLs, hashtags,
and user names within the
network as a whole and within
each calculated sub-group.

21. Contrast hashtags in Groups 2 & 4

22. Contrasting URL references

23. Word Pair Contrasts

25. Semantic and
Social Network
Analysis of Social
Media with
NodeXL
A project from the Social Media Research Foundation: http://www.smrfoundation.org