OLR Exercises - Topic 10: Complexity and Social Networks

Exercise 10.1 Social Networks Case Study

The Blue POD group is made up of Sarah, Andrew, Tyrone and James.

Blogs published using Blogger easily identify followers. Other Blogs do not. Therefore I also looked through the comments on each person’s blog, and have included people who have left comments as followers.

The following list shows each Blue POD member and who they are being followed by:

A: Sarah is being followed by Andy, Petar and Jessica

B: Andrew is being followed by Ann, James, Sarah, Tyrone

C: Tyrone is being followed by James and Sarah

D: James is being followed by Sarah, Andy and Jessica

The above information has been recorded in the table below:

Below is the social network diagram of the Blue POD group followers / following:

A is being followed by one other POD member (B), but is following all three POD members (B,C,D).

B is being followed by all three POD members (B,C,D) and is following two POD members (A,D).

C is being followed by two POD members (A,D) and is following one other POD member (B).

D is being followed by two POD members (A,B) and is following two POD members (B,C).

The patterns created in this data depend on people making connections with each other. In any social network of people, some particpate actively and others do not. While we are able to choose who we follow, we can not control who follows us. We are therefore unable to predict or control the patterns of this sort of analysis. While one might expect expect patterns to change amongst a larger group, it is possible that all groups have a similar number of active and less active participants. However, social networks are dynamic and constantly changing. According to Pavard & Dugdale (2006) as cited in the topic 10 readings, "the context and processes of a social network are constantly changing."The patterns reflected in the data analysis would therefore be expected to change to reflect these changes.