Title
Diversity dynamics in online networks
Abstract
Diversity is an important characterization aspect for online social networks that usually denotes the homogeneity of a network's content and structure. This paper addresses the fundamental question of diversity evolution in large-scale online communities over time. In doing so, we study different established notions of network diversity, based on paths in the network, degree distributions, eigenvalues, cycle distributions, and control models. This leads to five appropriate characteristic network statistics that capture corresponding aspects of network diversity: effective diameter, Gini coefficient, fractional network rank, weighted spectral distribution, and number of driver nodes of a network. Consequently, we present and discuss comprehensive experiments with a broad range of directed, undirected, and bipartite networks from several different network categories -- including hyperlink, interaction, and social networks. An important general observation is that network diversity shrinks over time. From the conceptual perspective, our work generalizes previous work on shrinking network diameters, putting it in the context of network diversity. We explain our observations by means of established network models and introduce the novel notion of eigenvalue centrality preferential attachment.
Year
DOI
Venue
2012
10.1145/2309996.2310039
HT
Keywords
Field
DocType
social network,appropriate characteristic network statistic,different network category,fractional network rank,network diversity,bipartite network,diversity dynamic,online social network,established network model,diversity evolution,network diameter,online network,eigenvalues,entropy,matrix rank,social networks,controllability,network model,degree distribution
Network science,Network formation,Dynamic network analysis,Interdependent networks,World Wide Web,Computer science,Evolving networks,Theoretical computer science,Scale-free network,Weighted network,Hierarchical network model,Artificial intelligence
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
4
0.41
13
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Jérôme Kunegis187451.20
Sergej Sizov254537.91
Felix Schwagereit3313.06
Damien Fay413514.41