- From: Alex Korth <alex@ttbc.de>
- Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:35:50 +0200
- To: Sam Critchley <scritchley@gypsii.com>
- Cc: public-xg-socialweb@w3.org
Hi, many of the metrics needed for this are convened under well-known SNA (Social Network Analysis) [1]. These metrics tell you something about both, single nodes as well as the social graph in total. Don't forget that mesures like PIs or unique visitors come from another time and are co-related but IMHO outdated. Cheers, Alex @alexkorth [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network#Social_network_analysis Sam Critchley wrote: > > Hi, > > This is an extensive topic and you can measure social networks (and > their success) in many ways. Previous posts on this topic have discussed > global popularity, and while this is useful for working out which are > the world's biggest SNs, and the metrics mentioned (page views, unique > visitors, time spent on service) generally make sense, it also makes > sense for people running social networks to measure their own success by > looking at the efficiency of the network. A social network about a niche > topic such as beekeeping may be highly successful in its field, but not > necessarily generate enormous page views in comparison with a more > generalised site. > > I've had a few discussions with people about taking a more > economics-based view and looking at the "network effect" to measure SN > efficiency/performance (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect > for details, plus I recommend reading Beinhocker's book called "The > Origin of Wealth" as a great introduction to network effect and > evolutionary economics). This can result in a set of tools which allows > administrators/developers to measure empirically the effect of service > changes. For example, we could deploy the following useful metrics: > > 1. Absolute number of nodes in the network > This would most probably represent the number of unique members a social > network has, and could of course be broken down into grades of member > activity and other criteria. A node could also mean an individual piece > of user- or dynamically-generated content. This metric would measure the > absolute size of the network. > > 2. Average links per network node > When used to describe member behaviour, this would generally be used to > tell you the average number of "friends" per member of your SN. The > higher the average number of links per member, the greater the potential > efficiency of the network. > > 3. Average link utilisation. > A key element in social network efficiency is building the maximum > number of links between members and then setting up the network so that > the greatest possible amount of content is shared across each of those > links. For example, if member A sees one piece of member B's content a > week, then you introduce an improvement to your service and member A now > sees 10 pieces of member B's content a week, you can say your link > utilisation has gone up. Of course, defining what exactly "content" is > can be tricky, but this is generally a useful metric. > > I think you can say that a "successful social network" has high average > links per network node plus high link utilisation, and a "large > successful social network" also has a high number of (active) nodes. > > So does it make sense adding similar metrics to our discussion or do we > propose limiting discussion to absolute size? > > Thanks, > > Sam > > > > On Jul 20, 2009, at 3:56 PM, Christine Perey wrote: > >> >> Hello, >> >> I took an action item on July 15 to send some suggested reading to the >> mailing list in support/preparation for July 22 meeting during which >> the members are invited to discuss the topic of Social Network metrics. >> >> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xg-socialweb/2009Jul/0032.html >> >> Here is the position paper I submitted for the workshop >> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xg-socialweb/2009Jul/0032.html >> >> I see them as quite different topics, however, there is overlap >> between metrics and community segmentations. >> >> Here is some reading on the topic of segmentations: >> >> http://www.w3.org/2008/09/msnws/papers/Social_Networking_Segmentation.pdf >> >> See thread which began with this message >> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xg-socialweb/2009Jun/0041.html >> >> I look forward to a discussion on social network metrics. >> >> Regards, >> >> Christine >> Spime Wrangler >> >> cperey@perey.com <mailto:cperey@perey.com> >> mobile (Swiss): +41 79 436 68 69 >> from US: +1 (617) 848 8159 >> from anywhere (Skype): Christine_perey >> > > *********************************************** > Sam Critchley > VP, Products and Co-Founder > GyPSii > http://www.gypsii.com/ > scritchley@gypsii.com <mailto://scritchley@gypsii.com> > GyPSii HQ Amsterdam > Mobile: +31 6 28 233 133 > Landline: +31 20 715 5915 > Fax: +31 20 524 8896 > Join the GyPSii mobile lifestyle > Download GyPSii to your phone > Latest GyPSii Place <http://gypsii.com/latest_place.cgi?u=sam> > *********************************************** > > > > > > -- Alexander Korth www.twitter.com/alexkorth
Received on Wednesday, 22 July 2009 12:36:29 UTC