Activate Networks, Inc., is a network analytics company that identifies and understands the key social connections that drive commercial, organizational, and health results. Activate Networks' suite of analytics products and software enables organizations to unlock the commercial value of their customer, prospect, voter, and employee real-world social networks commonly using data already available in the organization.
10. Innovation
Construction of a Social Network
Of the 1680 engineers, 1466
can be linked together in a
single network.
The ties of this network
represent co-membership on
a specific project. Nodes are
individuals.
11. Using network maps to target initiatives
Focus on influential non-
supporters to convert cluster
Regional level network map
Influence Index
and Use network effects to
Optimized Targeting List expand effects of influential
supporters
Supporter
Non-supporter
Our work is based on up-to-the-minute social science from the leading academics internationally, going back to the pioneering work of Everett Rogers in the 1950s and 1960s, and now to the groundbreaking work of Christakis, Fowler, and Cross.
Social networks turn out to be one of the most powerful ways to spread everything from pathogens to information to norms to behaviors. These things spread faster through the existing ties of a social network than they do through people who are not connected. And the behaviors that spread through social networks include behaviors that are critical to marketers, such as drug brand choice and adoption of novel forms of care.
Community boundaries are not the same as geographic boundaries.
This research has direct applications for businesses and other organizations. Understanding social networks and social influence is the missing piece in allowing companies to focus their marketing and promotion, or organizations to optimize communications and decision-making, or political campaigns to reach key voters. Most businesses know a lot about individual customers, but they rarely know how they are connected to each other. That’s where we come in: we find the links, we create the maps, and we make specific, actionable recommendations. For example, we have the most sophisticated approach to mapping networks of physicians, and we can show that prescribing behavior is largely dependent on these networks. This slide illustrates the flow of prescribing based on social influence in a physician network.
The same is true for physician practice patterns, a major concern for health insurers and physician groups. Again, we can map physician networks, and we can use them to help disseminate key information about that practice. This map depicts physician networks in a large health system, and is being used to help spread optimal practice patterns for the treatment of diabetes.
We also analyze networks of patients, health plan members, or citizens. For example, this is a network we mapped to help deliver a wellness program in a community. It’s much more efficient to use influence patterns to spread health behaviors than other approaches. A focus on the Kevin Bacons who are highly connected – as we depict in this network -- is much more effective than focusing on the Steve McQueens out at the periphery.
And I’m just scratching the surface. We use network analyses to help organizations innovate. In this case, we helped at technology corporation understand which teams were effective in producing new products, and why.
Or for political campaigns, how can resources be used most efficiently to spread the message? A focus on networks and social influence plays a key role in appealing to voters.
Or forecasting; networks can even predict the future. We and others have shown that focusing on specific individuals within a network can predict the behavior of the whole community -- weeks or months in advance.I haven’t even addressed our work with online networks, but I hope you get the idea. This is an incredibly powerful approach with broad applications in a wide range of fields. And it’s based on the best available science. I hope you’ll explore the site to learn more about how social network analytics can help your organization. And I’d welcome your comments and ideas. Thanks very much.