Social Media Marketing

Analytics
Session 6
Dr. Mohit Malhan
Network Structure

• Variety of network structures exist.

• Random network
• Scale-free or decentralised networks
• Small world or Centralized networks, etc.

• Network structures are due to the node degree distribution.

Degree of a node measures the number of links a node has to the other
nodes in a network.
 Network Structures based on
Degree distribution
• Degree distribution is the probability distribution of
nodes degrees over the whole network.
Degree distribution tries to capture the difference
in the degree of connectivity between nodes in a
It tell us how something graph.
will flow through it, which
nodes have influence, or
how quickly can we affect
the entire network.
Random Network
• A network with normal distribution or homogeneous
degree distribution (does not have distinct pattern).

• All nodes have similar degree (no dominant nodes).

Majority of the nodes will have a normal number of

connections. The network has a low clustering co-efficient.
 Scale-free network
• A scale-free network (also known as centralized network)
is a network whose degree distribution follows a power
law. In other words, few central nodes control the flow of
something (information, resources).

Banking activity network; nodes size Exponential relationship between the degree
represent financial assets and links of connectivity of a node and its frequency of
represent flow of capital. occurrence.
Scale-free network

• Most real world network are scale free.

• Facebook and Twitter Social networks (few people
with many connections);
• Few websites having more in-links (Google and
Yahoo).
• Citation networks (few scholars with many
citations);
Small world network

• Small world network (or decentralize network) have one

or few dominant nodes (hubs) and many nodes with a
relatively low level of degree.
Small world network

• Decentralized networks have the small-world property

i.e., a network in which most nodes are not neighbors, but
most nodes can be connected with a few steps.

• How many steps?

Milgram, Stanley (May 1967).

"The Small World
Problem". Psychology Today. Ziff-
Davis Publishing Company.
Scale-free network

• How many steps?

• 6 degree separation hypothesis.
• the theory that each person in world is only six
step away from any other person on the planet.

• Its now 3 degree due to social networks

Common Network Properties
• Network-Level Properties

 Clustering Coefficient
 Density
 Components
 Diameter
 Average Degree
 Clustering Coefficient
• The clustering coefficient of a network is the degree to
which nodes in a network tend to cluster or group
together.

Clustering coefficient = 0.86 Clustering coefficient = 0.50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2WF4pT5pFY
Density

The density of a network deals with the number of

links in a network. It is the number of links present in a
network divided by the number of all possible links.

• (for an undirected network, the number of all possible

links can be calculated as n (n – 1)/2); where n is the
number of nodes in a network).

• A fully connected network, in which each node is

connected to every other node, will have a density of 1.
Density

n (n – 1)/2); where n is the number of nodes in a network).

• No. of links = 10
• Possible links (complete graph) = 8(8-1)/2) = 7 (4) = 28

• = 10/28 = 0.35
Density

• Can you calculate density for this one?

Network Components
• Components of a network are the isolated sub-networks
that connect within but are disconnected between, sub-
networks (Hanneman and Riddle 2005).

There is no path that can get you from a node in one component to a node in another
component. If any two nodes of a network have at least one path connecting them, the entire
network is a single component.
 Diameter

• The diameter of a network is the largest of all the

calculated shortest path between any pair of nodes in a
network (Wasserman and Faust 1994).

• It can provide an idea of how long it would take for some

information/ideas/message to pass through the network.
Connectivity in Graphs

• Adjacent nodes/Edges,
Walk/Path/Trail/Tour/Cycle
Adjacent nodes and Incident Edges

Two nodes are adjacent if they are connected

via an edge.

Two edges are incident, if they share an end-

point

When the graph is directed, edge directions

must match for edges to be incident

An edge in a graph can be traversed when one

starts at one of its end-nodes, moves along the
edge, and stops at its other end-node.
Walk, Path, Trail, Tour, and Cycle

Walk: A walk is a sequence of incident edges visited

one after another
• Open walk: A walk does not end where it starts
• Closed walk: A walk returns to where it starts

• Representing a walk:
• A sequence of edges: 𝑒1, 𝑒2, … , 𝑒𝑛
• A sequence of nodes: 𝑣1, 𝑣2, … , 𝑣𝑛

• Length of walk:
the number of visited edges

Length of walk= 8
Trail

• A trail is a walk where no edge is visited more than once and

all walk edges are distinct

• A closed trail (one that ends where it starts) is called a tour or

circuit
Path

• A walk where nodes and edges are distinct is called a path

and a closed path is called a cycle
• The length of a path or cycle is the number of edges visited in
the path or cycle

Length of path= 4
Examples

Eulerian Tour
• All edges are traversed only once
• Konigsberg bridges

Hamiltonian Cycle
• A cycle that visits all nodes
Random walk

• A walk that in each step the next node is selected

randomly among the neighbors

• The weight of an edge can be used to define the

probability of visiting it
Connectivity

• A node 𝒗𝒊 is connected to node 𝒗𝒋 (or

reachable from 𝑣𝑗) if it is adjacent to it or there
exists a path from 𝑣𝑖 to 𝑣𝑗.

• A graph is connected, if there exists a path

between any pair of nodes in it
• In a directed graph, a graph is strongly connected
if there exists a directed path between any pair of
nodes
• In a directed graph, a graph is weakly connected if
there exists a path between any pair of nodes,
without following the edge directions

• A graph is disconnected, if it is not connected.

Connectivity: Example
Component

• A component in an undirected graph is a connected subgraph,

i.e., there is a path between every pair of nodes inside the
component

• In directed graphs, we have a strongly connected components

when there is a path from 𝑢 to 𝑣 and one from 𝑣 to 𝑢 for every
pair of nodes 𝑢 and 𝑣.

• The component is weakly connected if replacing directed

edges with undirected edges results in a connected component
Component Example:

Number of components?
Shortest Path

• Shortest Path is the path between two nodes that has the
shortest length.
• We denote the length of the shortest path between nodes 𝑣𝑖 and 𝑣𝑗 as
𝑙𝑖,𝑗
• Its also called a geodesic.

• The concept of the neighborhood of a node can be generalized

using shortest paths. An n-hop neighborhood of a node is the
set of nodes that are within n hops distance from the node.
Diameter

The diameter of a graph is the length of the longest shortest

path between any pairs of nodes in the graph

• How big is the diameter of the web?

Special Graphs
Trees and Forests

• Trees are special cases of undirected graphs

• A tree is a graph structure that has no cycle in it
• In a tree, there is exactly one path between any
pair of nodes
• In a tree: |𝑉| = |𝐸| + 1

• A set of disconnected
trees is called a forest

A forest containing 3 trees

Spanning Trees

• For any connected graph, the spanning tree is

a subgraph and a tree that includes all the
nodes of the graph

• There may exist multiple spanning trees for a

graph.

• In a weighted graph, the weight of a spanning

tree is the summation of the edge weights in
the tree.

• Among the many spanning trees found for a

weighted graph, the one with the minimum
weight is called the
minimum spanning tree (MST)
Complete Graphs

• A complete graph is a graph where for a set of

nodes 𝑉, all possible edges exist in the graph
• In a complete graph, any pair of nodes are
connected via an edge
Planar Graphs

A graph that can be drawn in such a way that no two edges cross
each other (other than the endpoints) is called planar

Planar Graph Non-planar Graph

Bipartite Graphs

A bipartite graph 𝐺(𝑉, 𝐸) is a graph where the node set can be

partitioned into two sets such that, for all edges, one end-point is
in one set and the other end-point is in the other set.
Affiliation Networks

An affiliation network is a bipartite graph. If an individual is

associated with an affiliation, an edge connects the
corresponding nodes.
Affiliation Networks: Membership

Affiliation of people on People Companies

corporate boards of
directors
Social-Affiliation Network

Social-Affiliation network is a combination of a social network

and an affiliation network
Regular Graphs

• A regular graph is one in which all

nodes have the same degree
• Regular graphs can be connected or
disconnected
• In a 𝑘-regular graph, all nodes have
degree 𝑘
• Complete graphs are examples of
regular graphs

Regular graph
With 𝑘 = 3
Egocentric Networks

• Egocentric network: A focal actor (ego) and a

set of alters who have ties with the ego

• Usually there are limitations for nodes to

connect to other nodes or have relation with
other nodes
• Example: In a network of mothers and their children:
• Each mother only holds mother-children relations with her
own children

• Additional examples of egocentric networks are

Teacher-Student or Husband-Wife
Bridges (cut-edges)

• Bridges are edges whose removal will increase the number of

connected components
Network Evolution

• Much of what we have considered until this point has been by

looking at an existing set of networks without regard for
additional growth or expansion of the network.

• In reality, we know that networks do grow, often very quickly

and unpredictably.

• There exist a number of models in the literature that attempt to

predict network growth using a variety of assumptions.

• These include the Erdos-Renyi random growth model as well as

the Barabási–Albert model of preferential attachment, plus a
host of variations on these themes.
Random Network Growth

• Random Network: "A random network consists of N labeled nodes

where each node pair is connected with the same probability p.“

• If p is high, say 0.8, then our graph will tend toward a dense
structure, while a p value of 0.2 would lead to a very sparse
graph with few connections between nodes.

• Random networks have been criticized for being unrealistic in

modeling network growth, yet they continue to serve as a
useful starting point in understanding how networks evolve.
Preferential Attachment

• Preferential attachment is a probabilistic rule: a new node is free to connect to any

node in the network, whether it is a hub or has a single link… if a new node has a
choice between a degree-two and a degree-four node, it is twice as likely that it
connects to the degree-four node.

• Preferential attachment has been shown to correlate much more closely, if

imperfectly, to real-world situations, such as the structure of connections on the
Web.

• In the preferential attachment model, new nodes are more likely to connect to
nodes that have higher degrees, a pattern often referred to as the rich get richer.

• Thus, our network winds up with a number of hubs with many connections,
surrounded by a greater number of nodes with fewer edges.

• Many real-life examples have shown this sort of behavior, from mathematical
processes to citation networks and on to the Web.
Social Media Network Strategies

Depending on your brand network structure, you may

formulate different strategies.

• Strategy 1: Bridge building

• Strategy 2: Shortest path to prominence
• Strategy 3: Smart tweet
 Social Media Network Strategies

• Strategy 1: Bridge building

• This strategy requires looking the network structure as
whole and selectively reshaping its structure in way that is
conducive to your brand.

• Polarized network -> Community (next slide)

• Introduce fans to each other
• High clustering coefficient brand network
• tight net communities within your network who
don't talk to each other
• Isolated components
• Your message will not go through
Polarized Network Example #My2k
Strategy 2: Shortest path to
prominence
• A rule of thumb is that you want to connect with the 100
most influential social media users (nodes) at the cost of
1000 non influential.

• Connecting and empowering these people is the shortest

path to prominence.

"If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders

of giants“ Sir Isaac Newton

"If I can reach further, it is by connecting with influential nodes“ Gohar F. Khan
Strategy 3: Smart tweet

• The idea is that you should talk to the most influential

people/nodes about things they care about.

• Use text analytics, for example, on tweets to find what

influential nodes in your network tweet about or in other
words what they are interested in. And then use
that information to start a conversation with the
influential users.
Thanks