Evolution of a large online social network Export

@article{citeulike:5458278, abstract = {Although recently there are extensive research on the collaborative networks and online communities, there is very limited knowledge about the actual evolution of the online social networks (OSN). In the Letter, we study the structural evolution of a large online virtual community. We find that the scale growth of the OSN shows non-trivial S shape which may provide a proper exemplification for Bass diffusion model. We reveal that the evolutions of many network properties, such as density, clustering, heterogeneity and modularity, show non-monotone feature, and shrink phenomenon occurs for the path length and diameter of the network. Furthermore, the OSN underwent a transition from degree assortativity characteristic of collaborative networks to degree disassortativity characteristic of many OSNs. Our study has revealed the evolutionary pattern of interpersonal interactions in a specific population and provided a valuable platform for theoretical modeling and further analysis.}, archivePrefix = {arXiv}, author = {Hu, Haibo and Wang, Xiaofan}, citeulike-article-id = {5458278}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://arxiv.org/abs/0908.2163}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://arxiv.org/pdf/0908.2163}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2009.02.004}, day = {15}, doi = {10.1016/j.physleta.2009.02.004}, eprint = {0908.2163}, keywords = {compilation, socialnetwork, wealink}, month = {Aug}, posted-at = {2009-08-28 14:27:33}, priority = {0}, title = {Evolution of a large online social network}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2009.02.004}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5458278 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5458278 N2 - Although recently there are extensive research on the collaborative networks and online communities, there is very limited knowledge about the actual evolution of the online social networks (OSN). In the Letter, we study the structural evolution of a large online virtual community. We find that the scale growth of the OSN shows non-trivial S shape which may provide a proper exemplification for Bass diffusion model. We reveal that the evolutions of many network properties, such as density, clustering, heterogeneity and modularity, show non-monotone feature, and shrink phenomenon occurs for the path length and diameter of the network. Furthermore, the OSN underwent a transition from degree assortativity characteristic of collaborative networks to degree disassortativity characteristic of many OSNs. Our study has revealed the evolutionary pattern of interpersonal interactions in a specific population and provided a valuable platform for theoretical modeling and further analysis. TI - Evolution of a large online social network KW - compilation KW - socialnetwork KW - wealink AU - Hu, Haibo AU - Wang, Xiaofan PY - 2009/Aug/15/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2009.02.004 ER -