The Journal of China

Universities of Posts and

Telecommunications
September 2008, 15(Suppl.): 79–83
www.buptjournal.cn/xben

Mobile E-commerce model based on social network analysis

CAI Ya-li1, WANG Wen-dong1, GONG Xiang-yang1, LI Yu-hong1, CHEN Can-feng2, MA Jian2

1. State Key Laboratory of Networking and Switching Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
2. Nokia Research Center, Beijing 100176, China

Abstract

With the development of Internet technology and the increasing popularity of mobile terminals, mobile E-commerce has
become a convenient tool in our daily life. In a mobile E-commerce system, how to effectively establish and evaluate trust
between seller and buyer is a hotspot. Whether a buyer knows and trusts a seller often strongly influences purchasing decisions,
especially in customer-to-customer (C2C) E-commerce or second-hand exchange market. This paper proposes a social network
model on the mobile E-commerce system, which can give recommendation values between buyers and sellers in terms of their
social relationship, actual geographical distances and historic deal records etc. Experiment results show that the proposed model
can effectively help users to make the decision whether and with whom to make a deal by using the recommendation values. In
addition, the proposed model also has better security feature than the normal E-commerce system.

Keywords social network analysis (SNA), social influence, E-commerce, interaction history record

1 Introduction acquaintances and business partners, rather than strangers. It

As the Internet technologies continue to develop, E-commerce
has become prevalent in our daily life. By using E-commerce
system, buyers can purchase merchandise from companies or
choose second-hand exchange from sellers. Initially,
E-commerce systems, based solely on the World Wide Web,
depend on the interaction among the users who can access
various websites. With the development of increasingly stable
mobile platform, mobile E-commerce has migrated onto the
mobile platform as portable devices such as smart phones,
personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile internet devices (MID),
and handheld computers have been adopted rapidly by a wide
variety of users [1]. As a result, mobile users are able and more
willing to do business on their mobile devices more readily.
However, two problems still exist in the current mobile
E-commerce system. On the one hand, it’s difficult for
consumers to make a decision. Browsing, searching, and
buying a product on E-commerce websites are often a time
consuming and frustrating task [2]. Over 80% of Web
shoppers have left E-commerce websites at some point
without finding what they want [3]. According to the research
by Sinha and Swearingen [4], a person’s decision to buy a
product is often strongly influenced by his or her friends,
Received date: 02-01-2008
Corresponding author:CAI Ya-li, E-mail: yalicai@gmail.com
is therefore necessary to measure the relationships between
buyers and sellers in the social network to evaluate the trust in
E-commerce especially in second-hand market. On the other
hand, with the rapid adoption of mobile devices, the
development of location based services has brought users
much convenience. When making deals on mobile devices,
buyers may take sellers’ position into account, which will
influence their decisions. Thus, it is useful to build an
exchange recommendation mechanism based on position
information regarding buyers and sellers.
Based on the above considerations, this paper suggests a
general mobile E-commerce model by taking social networks
into account. The social network analysis is applied to build a
novel credit recommendation mechanism. In addition, the
position information is also considered in the model, which
can provide location based services to mobile users.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. A brief
review of the research background and related works are
given in Sect. 2. Section 3 describes the proposed model and
the decision function. Experiment results atop the model are
given in Sect. 4. Finally, conclusions and our further works
are dedicated in Sect. 5.
2 Background and related works
A social network is a social structure between actors,
80 The Journal of China Universities of Posts and Telecommunications 2008

mostly individuals or organizations. It indicates the ways in through a social network; how to measure the interaction
which actors are connected through various social familiarities history to inspirit the intending market.
ranging from casual acquaintance to close familiar bonds [5].
The analysis and applications of social network are based on 3 Mobile E-commerce modeling
Six Degree of Separation Theory. The theory refers to the idea
that, if a person is one step away from each person he or she General speaking, the mobile E-commerce relationship is
knows and two steps away from each person who is known by modeled as a social network. A mobile E-commerce strategy
one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is an based on social network is proposed by computing the credit
average of six ‘step’ away from any person on Earth. Social values between users and the influence of some key persons
network analysis is the mapping and measurement of in the network. Meanwhile, the users’ locations are also
relationships and flows between people, groups, organizations, considered in the model.
animals, computers or other information/knowledge processing
entities [6]. The nodes in the network are the people and the 3.1 Definitions
groups, and the links show relationships or flows between the
nodes. Email traffic, disease transmission, and criminal 1) U , represents the set of users in the system, including
activity can all be modeled by the social network analysis [6]. buyers and sellers, where U = N .
Some researchers have focused on integrating social network 2) R = {(u, v ) | u, v ∈ U } , represents each pair of users in
into E-commerce. According to Ref. [7], social network sites the system.
including MySpace and Facebook are driving an increasing 3) S ( u, v) , represents the relationship between u and v,
volume of traffic to retail sites, and are thus becoming a where u , v ∈ U . It is defined by the number of ‘step’
staring point for Web users who are interested in E-commerce. between u and v based on Six Degree of Separation Theory.
This increase in traffic from social network sites to online According to the theory, S ( u, v) ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} . In our
retailers shows that highly influential customers directly system, S ( u, v ) = S ( v, u) .
affect other customers’ decision making. Lam in Ref. [8] built 4) D( u, v ) (t ) , represents the geographical distance between
a collaborative recommender system incorporating social
u and v at the time t, where u , v ∈ U . Apparently, given a
network information, called social network in automated
collaborative-filtering of knowledge (SNACK). Kim and particular time t1 , D( u, v ) (t1 ) = D( v , u ) (t1 ) .
Srivastava [2] described how to exercise social influence on a 5) V( u , v ) (t ) , represents the recommendation value between
customer’s decision making process, provided a summary of u and v at the time t, where u , v ∈ U . Similarly, given a
technology for social network analysis, and identified the particular time t1 , V( u, v ) (t1 ) = V( v , u ) ( t1 ) .
research challenges of measuring and leveraging the impact of
social influence on E-commerce decision making. Carroll [9]
3.2 Model establishment
proposed a typical collaborative filtering algorithm to build a
customer’s neighborhood based on his or her preferences of
The system model is built upon the graph theory, which is
shared products and weighs the interest of neighbors with
widely used in social networks [11]. Figure 1 shows the
similar taste to generate new recommendations. According to
undirected graph characterizing the system. We use a simple
the research by Hill et al. [10], we can identify potential graph G = (U , E ) to describe a social E-commerce network.
customers based on existing customers who have bought a
A graph G consists of a finite set U which represents the
service. This was implemented in the domain of
vertexes, and a finite set E which represents the edges. E is
telecommunication services.
the set of one-step relationship in the system. We define
Although some emerging research activities have started to
(u, v ) ∈ E if and only if S ( u, v) = 1.
apply social network analysis to E-commerce, they lack a
general trust model in mobile E-commerce, especially in C2C
E-commerce or second-hand market, where credit values and
position information are both important for mobile users to
make a market decision. To establish the model, the following
problems must be solved as follows: how to introduce and
quantify the social relationship among the mobile users in the Fig. 1 Undirected graph model for social E-commerce network
E-commerce model; how to balance the social relationship and
In the graph G, we can see that S ( u, v) is equivalent to
geographical distance between mobile users; how to select
the minimum number of edges between any two nodes. For
influential customers and compute their spread of influence
Supplement CAI Ya-li, et al. / Mobile E-commerce model based on social network analysis
example, in Fig. 1, S (1, 6) = 3 , S (3, 10) = 2 .
The positioning information of mobile users should also be
taken into account. The existing mobile orientation technology
would compute the current distance between user u and v,
which is denoted by D( u, v ) (t ) .
In general, the value of recommendation V( u , v ) (t ) can be
evaluated by S ( u, v) and D( u, v ) (t ) . Since V( u , v ) (t ) increases
as S ( u, v) and D( u, v ) (t ) decrease, the value of recom-
mendation between user u and v can be defined as
α β
V( u, v ) (t ) = + (1)
S0 (u , v ) D0 (u , v ) (t )
In the Eq. (1), α and β are weighting factors. S ( u, v)
and D( u, v ) (t ) can be normalized by
S (u , v )
S0 (u , v ) =
∑ S ( w, x)
w , x∈U
D( u, v ) (t )
D0( u , v ) (t ) =
∑ D( w, x ) (t )
w , x∈U
The model above has clearly differentiated credit
recommendation values by using social network analysis.
However, it ignores the social influence of the middle vertexes
in the social network. As an example in Fig. 1, vertex 4 and
vertex 1, denoted by pair A , are two-step friends, whose
relation path is ‘4->2->1’. Another pair of two-step friends is
vertex 4 and vertex 8, denoted by pair B , with the relation
path ‘4->7->8’. If the social influences of respective middle
vertexes 2 and 7 are widely different in social network, the
credit values of pair A and pair B will be not the same.
3.3 Social influence of middle nodes
In order to compute the social influence of the middle
vertexes, a concept of graph theory, the degree of the vertex in
the graph is introduced into this model. The ‘degree’ is not the
same as the one in Six ‘Degree’ of Separation Theory. The
degree of a vertex in an undirected graph is the number of
edges associated with it, except that a loop at a vertex
contributes twice to the degree of that vertex [12]. In our
social network model, the degree of a vertex shows the
number of one-step friends. According to Ref. [13], if vertex i
has bigger degree, there are more paths through vertex i to
cover the network, so vertex i would contribute larger
influence to social network. Degree measures how active or
popular a particular vertex is [14, 2].
To measure the social influence of middle vertexes, we
have two symbol definitions as follows:
1) F (u) , the degree of vertex, represents the number of
user u’s one-step friends. For example, in Fig. 1, F (u2 ) = 5 ,
81
vertex 2 has the most one-step friends, thus we consider that
user 2 will contribute the largest influence to social network.
2) Q (u , v) , represents the social influence of middle
vertexes between user u and v, where u and v are not one-step
friends.
If vertex u and v are K-step friend (1 < K ≤6 ), we can find
out a shortest path u , w1 , w2,..., wK −1 , v , then the influence
of middle nodes between vertex u and v is
K −1
Q (u, v ) = ∑ F ( wi ) (4)
i =1
in which, ( w1 , w2,..., wK −1 )= arg Q(u, v)
max
( w1 , w2 ,..., wK −1 )
3.4 Interaction history records
In the social E-commerce network, the favourable interaction
(2)
history records between two persons will increase their credit.
The weight of the edge in the graph is thereby introduced into
the model. We assign a weight to each edge and model the
(3)
social E-commerce network as a weighted graph shown as Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 Weighted undirected graph model for social E-commerce
network
In Fig. 2, the interaction history records are modelled by
assigning numbers of history records to the according edges.
To be more specific, a weighted dashed is assigned between
two vertexes if they are not one-step friends but have
interaction history records.
To measure the interaction history records, we introduce
two symbol definitions here:
1) B( u, v ) (t ) , the weight of edge, which represents the number
of interaction history records between user u and v at the time
point t. For example, we assume that the system state at the time
t0 is shown in Fig. 2, then B( u2 , u4 ) (t 0 ) = 3 , B( u7 , u10 ) (t 0 ) = 2.
2) H ( u, v ) (t ) , represents the referenced value of interaction
histories between user u and v at the time t. Especially, if
S ( u, v) = 1 , then H ( u, v ) (t ) = B( u , v ) (t ) .
If vertex u and v are K-step friend (1 < K ≤6 ), a shortest
path u , w1 , w2,..., wK −1 , v , donated as path P can be found,
then we define the referenced interaction histories of middle
vertexes along path P can be defined as
K −2
BP ( u →v ) (t ) = B( u, w1 ) (t ) + B( wK−1 v ) (t ) + ∑ B( wi wi +1 ) (t ) (5)
i =1
82 The Journal of China Universities of Posts and Telecommunications 2008

where ( w1 , w2,..., wK −1 )= arg max
( w1 , w2 ,..., wK −1 )
If vertex u and v are K-step friend ( 1 < K ≤6 ), the
referenced value of interaction histories between vertex u and
v is defined as
H ( u, v ) (t ) = B( u, v ) ( t ) + γ BP ( u →v ) (t ) (6)
In Eq. (6), the direct interaction history record of two
vertexes B( u, v ) (t ) is the key element, while the sum of
interaction history records of middle vertexes BP ( u→ v ) (t ) is
an optional element. The range of parameter γ is [0, 1) .
BP (u →v ) (t ) 50 members and their friendships at the beginning for the
experiments. All the members can be buyers and sellers.
Therefore, a social E-commerce network is built as shown in
Fig. 3. If there are not any interaction history records between
two users, the weight to the according edges are not assigned.
In the experiment, we consider two priority strategies
including social network and location. When different
priorities are set, different default values of parameters are
listed as Table 1 shows.

3.5 Decision function

Based on the above analysis, a decision function for the

value of recommendation between vertex u and v is defined as
α β
V( u, v ) (t ) = + + η ⎡⎣Q0 (u , v ) + H 0 ( u, v ) (t )⎤⎦ (7)
S0 (u , v ) D0 (u , v ) (t )
In Eq. (7), Q0 (u , v ) and H 0( u , v ) ( t ) can be normalized by
Q ( u, v )
Q0 (u , v ) = (8)
∑ Q( w, x)
w , x∈U

H ( u , v ) (t )
H 0( u , v ) (t ) = (9)
∑ H ( w, x ) (t )
w , x ∈U

V( u , v ) (t ) is a decreasing function of S0 (u , v ) and

D0( u , v ) (t ) , while V( u , v ) (t ) is a increasing function of Fig. 3 A social E-commerce network in our experiment

Q0 (u , v ) and H 0( u , v ) ( t ) . Three parameters α , β and η Table 1 Default values of parameters in the experiment
Priority
are used to adjust the proportion of different factors Parameter
Social network Location
respectively, since different users may care different factors Ratio of middle friends’ interaction
when they make a decision. Here α represents the history records γ 0.5 0
proportion of relationship; β represents the proportion of Ratio of relation degree α 10 2
actual geographical distance; and η shows the proportion of Ratio of actual geographical distance β 1 5
Ratio of social influence of middle friends
the social influence of middle friends and interaction history and interaction history records η 0.5 0.2
records. Our decision function proves to be effective in the
experiment result outlined in Sect. 4. Due to the limit of experiment environment, we simulate
The mobile E-commerce model described above provides a the location information in rough granularity. As shown in Fig. 3,
general social network model in mobile E-commerce. From all the users live in four different districts including A, B, C, D.
the decision function, the recommendation values between The distances between two districts are shown in Table 2. The
buyers and sellers are measured by their relationship, actual distance between two persons in the same district is 1.
geographical distances, middle friends’ social influences and
Table 2 Distances between any two districts
interaction history records. Based on the decision function, Pair of two districts Distance
buyers can compare different recommendation values of A and B 2
different sellers, and then make a decision whether and with A and C 2
A and D 5
whom to make a deal. B and C 2
B and D 3
C and D 5
4 Experiments
To demonstrate the effectiveness of our mechanism, some
Some experiments are implemented to illustrate the vertexes are chosen as several malicious members in the
effectiveness of the proposed model. We set the initial about social network. Supposed that malicious members tend to
Supplement CAI Ya-li, et al. / Mobile E-commerce model based on social network analysis
have fewer friends and keep fewer interaction history records
with other users. As displayed in Fig. 3, we assume that John,
Andrew, Marian and Daniel are malicious members in the
social network. Moreover, Jeff and Robert are selected as
tested members to compute the recommendation values from
other users to identify trustworthy sellers. From Fig. 3, Jeff is
an active member in this social network, since he has many
one-step friends, while Robert is an inactive member. The
recommendation values are obtained from decision function
Eq. (7). All the values are normalized to show the proportions
that other users may be chosen.
The recommendations for an active member are checked
first. If Jeff selects the priority of location, the top 20
recommendation values from other users are shown in Fig. 4.
In the diagram, the preferred users are all in the same district
as Jeff due to the location priority limitation. Notice that, the
recommendation value from malicious member John is 5.9%,
and ranks the 9th place in the sort order. There exist biggish
risks in the real-life E-commerce if users ranked in front of
John have no merchandises that Jeff need.
Fig. 4 Recommendation for Jeff by the location prioity
If Jeff selects the priority of social network, the top 20
recommendation values from other users are summarized in
Fig. 5. In the diagram, the preferred users all have close
relationship with Jeff because of the priority of social network.
Meanwhile, users who keep favorite history records and
shorter distances with Jeff will be recommended first, such as
Ed, Tamara and Amanda. The recommendation value from
malicious member John is about 3.7%, and ranked the 19th
place in sort order. Compared with Fig. 4, we can find that,
for an active member, the risk of meeting malicious member
by the priority of social network will be greatly fewer than the
priority of location.
Fig. 5 Recommendation for Jeff by the social network priority
83
The recommendations for an inactive member are displayed
in Figs. 6 and 7. If Robert selects the priority of Location, the
malicious user Marian ranks the 10th place in the sort order.
His recommendation for Robert is 3.9%. If Robert selects the
priority of social network, there are not any malicious
members in the member list. From the comparison of Figs. 6
and 7, we can prove that the mechanism proposed can also
take effect and recommend reliable sellers for inactive
members in the social E-commerce network.
Fig. 6 Recommendation for Robert by the location priority
Fig. 7 Recommendation for Robert by the social network priority
5 Conclusions and future works
In this paper, a social network model in mobile
E-commerce is proposed. In the model, location information
is also taken into account to meet mobile users’ demands. And
the influence of intermediate friends between buyers and
sellers are computed. At the same time, interaction history
record is used as an incentive mechanism. Through the
suggested decision algorithm, buyers can explicitly identify
trustworthy sellers. Experiment results show that the proposed
mobile E-commerce model can effectively help users to make
decisions by measuring recommendation values of different
sellers. Users can also avoid malicious members and increase
the security of mobile E-commerce effectively.
Our future work aims to improve the robustness and
efficiency of the model for a large number of users. The
global position system (GPS) module will be used to compute
the geographical distances between users more accurately. In
addition, more different applications may be implemented
based on this model.
To p. 97
Supplement LI Jian, et al. / An adaptive genetic algorithm and its application in bilateral multi-issue negotiation
China (2007CB310704), and the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (90718001).
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Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the BUPT-NOKIA Joint Project on
Mobile Internet Service, the Hi-Tech Research and Development of
China (2007AA01Z206).
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