TY - JOUR
T1 - Structural differences between open and direct communication in an online community
AU - Karimi, Fariba
AU - Ramenzoni, Veronica C.
AU - Holme, Petter
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Most research of online communication focuses on modes of communication that are either open (like forums, bulletin boards, Twitter, etc.) or direct (like e-mails). In this work, we study a dataset that has both types of communication channels. We relate our findings to theories of social organization and human dynamics. The data comprises 36,492 users of a movie discussion community. Our results show that there are differences in the way users communicate in the two channels that are reflected in the shape of degree- and interevent time distributions. The open communication that is designed to facilitate conversations with any member shows a broader degree distribution and more of the triangles in the network are primarily formed in this mode of communication. The direct channel is presumably preferred by closer communication and the response time in dialogs is shorter. On a more coarse-grained level, there are common patterns in the two networks. The differences and overlaps between communication networks, thus, provide a unique window into how social and structural aspects of communication establish and evolve.
AB - Most research of online communication focuses on modes of communication that are either open (like forums, bulletin boards, Twitter, etc.) or direct (like e-mails). In this work, we study a dataset that has both types of communication channels. We relate our findings to theories of social organization and human dynamics. The data comprises 36,492 users of a movie discussion community. Our results show that there are differences in the way users communicate in the two channels that are reflected in the shape of degree- and interevent time distributions. The open communication that is designed to facilitate conversations with any member shows a broader degree distribution and more of the triangles in the network are primarily formed in this mode of communication. The direct channel is presumably preferred by closer communication and the response time in dialogs is shorter. On a more coarse-grained level, there are common patterns in the two networks. The differences and overlaps between communication networks, thus, provide a unique window into how social and structural aspects of communication establish and evolve.
U2 - 10.1016/j.physa.2014.07.037
DO - 10.1016/j.physa.2014.07.037
M3 - Article
SN - 0378-4371
VL - 414
SP - 263
EP - 273
JO - Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
JF - Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
ER -