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Web Survey Bibliography

Title The Online Measurement of Ego Centered Online Social Networks
Year 2007
Access date 13.03.2009
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Abstract

Social network analysis (sna) consists of a set of techniques and theories that analyze the ties between actors and the structure of these ties (wassermann/ faust 1994). The actors can be individuals, organizations, nations, or any other corporate actors. In principle, the techniques can be and are often used to describe the structure of social relationships between actors. However, they can also be used to describe the structure of ties between websites (e.g. park/barret/nam 2002), or the structure of connections between actors in general. The analysis of social networks is important because it is known that the structure of social contacts has a fundamental impact on social life and business success. Not only the characteristics of the actor are important, but also the way in which the actor is connected to others and their inter-relations. For example, social networks influence the likelihood of finding a job (granovetter 1972), career success (burt 1992), the diffusion of innovations (rogers 1995), the success of collaboration between firms (gulati 1995), opinion leadership (king/summer 1970), and much more. The often used term social capital refers to the insight that an actor’s social network can provide (or lack) valuable resources (portes 1998) that form a separate factor next to the human capital an actor has.

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Year of publication2007
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