Structure and Evolution of Online Social Networks

Structure and Evolution of Online Social NetworksRavi Kumar Jasmine Novak Andrew TomkinsYahoo! Research, 701 First Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.{ravikumar, jnovak, atomkins}@yahoo inc.comABSTRACT subject of numerous startup companies in their own right, offeringeach user the promise of managing her own social network as aIn this paper, we consider the evolution of structure within largevaluableresourcetobeshepherdedandgrown.online social networks. We present a series of measurements ofAs the stock of social networks has grown, so too has interest intwo such networks, together comprising in excess of five millionthe academic community. Offline networks have been the subjectpeople and ten million friendship links, annotated with metadataof intense academic scrutiny for many decades, but the availabilitycapturing the time of every event in the life of the network. Ourof large online social networks has raised new sets of questions.measurements expose a surprising segmentation of these networksMuchworktodatehasfocusedonthestructureofastaticsnapshotintothreeregions: singletonswhodonotparticipateinthenetwork;of an evolving social network. In this paper, we have access to theisolatedcommunitieswhichoverwhelminglydisplaystarstructure;entire lifetime of two large social networks, and hence we are ableand a giant component anchored by a well connected core regionto study their dynamic properties. We study the social network ofwhichpersistsevenintheabsenceofstars.Flickr ...