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The structure of business social network sites: the case of Milan IN – preliminary results – Ivana Pais – University of Brescia ([email protected]) Riccardo De Vita – University of Greenwich ([email protected]) Roberto Marmo – University of Pavia SunBelt XXX Social Networks Conference June 29 - July 04, 2010
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Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

May 20, 2015

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Sunbelt XXX Social Networks Conferences
The structure of business social network sites: the case of Milan IN
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Page 1: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Teaching excellence for over a hundred years

The structure of business social network sites:the case of Milan IN

– preliminary results –

Ivana Pais – University of Brescia ([email protected])

Riccardo De Vita – University of Greenwich ([email protected])

Roberto Marmo – University of Pavia

SunBelt XXX Social Networks ConferenceJune 29 - July 04, 2010

Page 2: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Teaching excellence for over a hundred years

Agenda

Social network sites: does one structure fit all?

Empirical setting: the case of Milan In

Methodology: exploring the data

Preliminary findings: different levels of analysis

Discussion and conclusion: the next steps

Page 3: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Teaching excellence for over a hundred years

Theoretical background

‘Appropriable social organisations’ vs intentional organizations (Coleman, 1990)

Technological development

Different forms of Social Network Sites (O’Murchu, Breslin, Decker, 2004)

o Registration-Based vs. Connection Basedo Social vs. Professionalo Online vs. Offlineo …

Page 4: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Teaching excellence for over a hundred years

Research question

The majority of the studies focused on the understanding of the effects of social networks; while the factors that generate, sustain and reproduce them partly remain to be explored (Smith-Doerr & Powell, 2005).

Little is known about the specific structure of online business social network services.

RQ: Are different social network sites associated withdifferent network structures?

Page 5: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Teaching excellence for over a hundred years

Milan In

A non-profit association set up in 2005 to allow members of LinkedIn living in Milan to physically meet up with each other.

Comparative study: o same organization & same actorso Linkedin Group Vs Facebook Group

4311 1357505

Page 6: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Teaching excellence for over a hundred years

Method

Structural Variables: connection on Facebook and Linkedin groups symmetric networks

Composition variable: gender, education, job title, number of connections,...

Exploratory analysis of several network properties at the global and local level

Software: UCINET 6 (Borgatti, Everett and Freeman, 2002) and helper applications

Page 7: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Linkedin Group – Members since 2005

Page 8: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

…adding the members since 2006

Page 9: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

…adding the members since 2007

Page 10: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

…adding the members since 2008

Page 11: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

…adding the members since 2009

Page 12: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Linkedin Group – Today

Page 13: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Facebook GroupMan; Woman

N Components Isolates Density Centralization Avg Degree505 35 33

(+1 dyad)0.019** 79.0 % 9.43

Page 14: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Linkedin GroupMan; Woman

N Components Isolates Density Centralization Avg Degree505 6 5 0.027** 83.4 % 13.5

Page 15: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Multiplexity

% of ties in theLinkedin Group

% of ties in theFacebook Group

2.00% 2.86%

Page 16: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Clique size

Overall Clustering CoefficientFacebook Group 0.584Linkedin Group 0.494

Page 17: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Identifying relevant actors

Degree CentralityTop 5 actors in Linkedin Group

ID Facebook Linkedin

344 0 432347 7 260276 2 101

1031 5 9116 25 90

5 Key PlayersKPP 2 – Using nodes

Facebook Group Linkedin Group

714 34419 16

394 321482 1101

1236 530

Degree CentralityTop 5 actors in Facebook Group

ID Facebook Linkedin

19 406 3886 139 7620 87 3696 75 2497 74 40

Page 18: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Teaching excellence for over a hundred years

Discussion

Different network structures are associated with online groups built for the same purpose but on different platforms

o Specialization and different behaviour

Implications for academic debate and for organization management

Need to take a process perspective in analyzing network evolution

Page 19: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Teaching excellence for over a hundred years

The next steps…

Data:o Relations recommendations, physical interactiono Attribute data questionnaire and deeper analysis

Methodological approach:o Longitudinal analysis

Theoretical perspective:o Network structure and organizational development

Empirical setting:o Comparison with other online social networks

Page 20: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites
Page 21: Sunbelt2010 The structure of business social network sites

Teaching excellence for over a hundred years

The structure of business social network sites:the case of Milan IN

– preliminary results –

Ivana Pais – University of Brescia ([email protected])

Riccardo De Vita – University of Greenwich ([email protected])

Roberto Marmo – University of Pavia