The mathematics behind Social Networks

While building an argument as to why development of Social Network based software requires more than an enthusiast able to create links to all his favourites friends, I came across an Introduction to social network methods by Robert A. Hanneman and Mark Riddle from the Sociology Department of the University of California Riverside.

The fact is that in order to build software capable of supporting Social Networks, knowledge of the theoretical aspects is quite important. It will likely be the factor that will differentiate the next generation of tools, those capable of:

• Predicting behaviour of a group
• Detecting illegal use of a Social Network (bots)
• Uncovering hidden relationships between actors
• Pointing out relevant actors to sustain a Social Network
• Like-mindness of the actors within a particular Social Network

Interesting to note that the mathematics required to read this article are well within the reach of most B.Comp.Sci or equivalent.