An Empirical Study of Virtual Social Networks

Theoretical Framework

A social network is a network structure made up of nodes and edges. In social network, nodes are called social actors (such as individuals or organizations) and edges represent the relations or interactions between actors. The edges could be directed or undirected, which are determined by the type of relations or interactions between actors. The study of social network could help us reveal hidden network patterns, discover influential actors, and understand institutional and organizational dynamics.

Social network study has been conducted in many areas, such as communication, business, criminal activity, language, art, community, and so on and so forth. In the next section of this article, related work will be reviewed.