This document provides an overview of social network analysis (SNA). It defines SNA as mapping and analyzing connections between individuals, groups, and institutions. The document outlines key concepts in SNA including actors (nodes), relations (links between actors), types of relations, centrality measures to identify influential individuals, and different software tools to conduct SNA. It also discusses real-world examples like Facebook data that demonstrate concepts like degrees of separation and diffusion of information through social networks.

2. PREM SANKAR C
Research Scholar
Dept of Futures Studies,University of Kerala
Social Network Analysis
It's is all about connections ..... It's all about networking .....

3. The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do
“Social relationships are hidden to Real World”
The New Science of Networks

4. Secret behind Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn
$26.2 billion
* Microsoft's acquired Nokia for $7.9 million and Skype for $8.5 billion
It's all about Professional Connections

5. We live in networks !!!
• We live in networks all the time: communities, organizations, teams.
• There is science to support the understanding of network structure.
• The structure of a network provides insights into how the network
“works”
• Once you understand the structure, you can make decisions about
how to manage the network’s context.
• Network analysis tools help you understand the structure.

6. Understanding how networks
work is an essential 21 st
century literacy..

7. What is SNA?

Social network analysis (SNA) is a collection of techniques,
tools, and methods by which one can map and analyze the
connections across individuals or groups or institutions.
Why SNA?
SNA is multidisciplinary and deals with
• Influencing groups (public health, propaganda, marketing)
• Increasing engagement with stakeholders (Management/Recommendation)
• Cool algorithms/ Analytics (math, computer science)
• Study of social behaviour (sociology, cognitive science)
• Organizational behavior (leadership, management)

8. Actors (Nodes/ Vertices)
Actors –are the smallest unit of a network
 Persons
 Organizations
 Countries
 Companies
 Animals
 Words
 Web pages
 Families

9. Relations (Link/Edge/Tie/Arc)
Kinship
mother of, wife of
 Other role-based
boss of, teacher of
friend of
Cognitive/perceptual
knows
aware of what they
know
Affective
likes, trusts
 Interactions
give advice, talks to,
fights with, lends
money to
sex / drugs with
• Affiliations
belong to same clubs /
companies
is physically near
Two Actors are
connected by a social
relationship.

10. Type of Relations
Relations can be
Undirected
Directed
Weighted
Weight can be
Strength
Rank
Frequency
Probability

11. “Think Link”
 Social network
 Collaboration
network
 Terrorist networks
 Economic networks
 Family Networks
 Organization
networks
 Sports Networks
A BIs related to
Patterns are
left behind
See your
interconnected
world

12. See the interconnected world
all about
connections
from people
to people

13. Network Measures...
Identifying people who are well positioned to influence
the network or to move information around

14. Examples of
A) Betweenness centrality,
B) Closeness centrality,
C) Eigenvector centrality,
D) Degree centrality,
E) Harmonic centrality and
F) Katz Centrality
of the same graph.
Source: wikipedia.org
Centrality Measures

15. Identifying Key People
Who are the people who are best positioned to move information through the
network?
People who live in the intersection of social worlds are at
higher risk of having good ideas. –Ron Burt

16. Different Leaders for Lifecycle Stages

17. Interpretation of measures

18. Interesting Facts and
Studies ...
helping you see your interconnected world

19. It’s a small world, after all ...
 This is essentially the “six degrees of
separation” idea—that the number of “steps” or
“links” needed to connect any one arbitrarily
chosen individual to any other is low (that is,
networks have lower diameters than one would
expect.)
 In Milgram’s 1967 “small world experiment”,
individuals were asked to reach a particular
target individual by passing a message along a
chain of acquaintances. For successful chains, the
average # of intermediaries needed was 5 (that is,
6 steps)—although note that most chains were not
completed.
The Strength of Weak Ties
Director: Fred Schepisi
Writers: John Guare (play),
John Guare (screenplay)
Stars: Will Smith, Stockard Channing
, Donald Sutherland
1993

20. The real power of Six degree of separation
How connected are you to everyone else in the
world?
The Facebook average is 3.57.
Source ­ Facebook Data Science Report
Estimated average degrees of separation between all people on Facebook. The
average person is connected to every other person by an average of 3.57 steps. The
majority of people have an average between 3 and 4 steps

21. Diffusion of behaviors on Facebook
Posts, Share, Nomination(mention in post),Volunteer (in comments)

22. UCINET
PAJEK
NetDraw
R - SNA Package
R - igraph Package
Python – iGraph Package
GEPHI
Neo4J
Software packages for SNA
Network Insights Don’t Require Fancy Software

23. 23
What’s the Moral of the Story?

24. 24
Thank You
Dept of Futures Studies
Kerala University