Identifying and analyzing Influencers in online social networks - Part 2
Multiple inference options exist for understanding the behavior of online social networks. One area of analysis is that of focusing purely on the content - discovering concepts, facts or opinions from the content posted by users. A second type of analysis focus on the community of users to discover networks (or sub-groups) in the community and learn how those sub-groups get formed or changed and the influence they exercise.
User analysis will provide a greater value over time as the analysis reveals the sources of ideas and not just the expression of an idea or concept. By identifying a user who adds greater than average value to the community, there is potential to increase their activity through managing the relationship with that user – this is a way to manage network externalities by providing incentives to continue behavior that generates positive externality.
By applying network analysis in the social media related to a B2C context, enterprises can aim to identify key influencers in the social media, understand their behaviors and explore how those networks change over a period of time. Some questions which may get answered in the process include:
1. Who are the key influencers in a social network? What are their attributes?
2. How do they exercise influence in the network?
3. How do network structures and positions change over time?
