Social network analysis software

Social network analysis (SNA) software is software which facilitates quantitative or qualitative analysis of social networks, by describing features of a network either through numerical or visual representation.

Overview

Networks can consist of anything from families, project teams, classrooms, sports teams, legislatures, nation-states, disease vectors, membership on networking websites like Twitter or Facebook, or even the Internet. Networks can consist of direct linkages between nodes or indirect linkages based upon shared attributes, shared attendance at events, or common affiliations. Network features can be at the level of individual nodes, dyads, triads, ties and/or edges, or the entire network. For example, node-level features can include network phenomena such as betweenness and centrality, or individual attributes such as age, sex, or income. SNA software generates these features from raw network data formatted in an edgelist, adjacency list, or adjacency matrix (also called sociomatrix), often combined with (individual/node-level) attribute data. Though the majority of network analysis software uses a plain text ASCII data format, some software packages contain the capability to utilize relational databases to import and/or store network features.

Features

Visual representations of social networks are important to understand network data and convey the result of the analysis. Visualization often also facilitates qualitative interpretation of network data. With respect to visualization, network analysis tools are used to change the layout, colors, size and other properties of the network representation.

Some SNA software can perform predictive analysis. This includes using network phenomena such as a tie to predict individual level outcomes (often called peer influence or contagion modeling), using individual-level phenomena to predict network outcomes such as the formation of a tie/edge (often called homophily models) or particular type of triad, or using network phenomena to predict other network phenomena, such as using a triad formation at time 0 to predict tie formation at time 1.

Collection of social network analysis tools and libraries

See also

* Comparison of research networking tools and research profiling systems
* Social network
* Social network analysis
* Social networking
* Organizational Network Analysis

References

Notes

*Barnes, J. A. "Class and Committees in a Norwegian Island Parish", ''Human Relations'' 7:39-58
*Borgatti, S. (2002). NetDraw Software for Network Visualization. Lexington, KY: Analytic Technologies.
*Borgatti, S. E. (2002). Ucinet for Windows: Software for Social Network Analysis. Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies.
*Berkowitz, S. D. 1982. ''An Introduction to Structural Analysis: The Network Approach to Social Research.'' Toronto: Butterworth.
* Brandes, Ulrik, and Thomas Erlebach (Eds.). 2005.
Network Analysis: Methodological Foundations
' Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
*Breiger, Ronald L. 2004. "The Analysis of Social Networks." Pp. 505–526 in ''Handbook of Data Analysis,'' edited by Melissa Hardy and Alan Bryman. London: Sage Publications.
Excerpts in pdf format
'
*Burt, Ronald S. (1992). ''Structural Holes: The Structure of Competition''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
*Carrington, Peter J., John Scott and Stanley Wasserman (Eds.). 2005. ''Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis.'' New York: Cambridge University Press.
*Christakis, Nicholas and James H. Fowler "The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network Over 32 Years," ''New England Journal of Medicine'' 357 (4): 370-379 (26 July 2007)
*Doreian, Patrick, Vladimir Batagelj, and Anuska Ferligoj. (2005). ''Generalized Blockmodeling.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Freeman, Linton C. (2004) ''The Development of Social Network Analysis: A Study in the Sociology of Science.'' Vancouver: Empirical Press.
*Hansen, William B. and Reese, Eric L. 2009
Network Genie Users Manual
Greensboro, NC: Tanglewood Research.
*Hill, R. and Dunbar, R. 2002. "Social Network Size in Humans." Human Nature, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 53–7
Google

pdf
*Huisman, M. and Van Duijn, M. A. J. (2005)
Software for Social Network Analysis
In P J. Carrington, J. Scott, & S. Wasserman (Editors), ''Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis'' (pp. 270–316). New York: Cambridge University Press.
*Krebs, Valdis (2002) Uncloaking Terrorist Networks, ''First Monday'', volume 7, number 4 (Application of SNA software to terror net
Web Reference
)
*Krebs, Valdis (2008) A Brief Introduction to Social Network Analysis (Common metrics in most SNA softwar

)
*Krebs, Valdis (2008) Various Case Studies & Projects using Social Network Analysis softwar

.
*Lin, Nan, Ronald S. Burt and Karen Cook, eds. (2001). ''Social Capital: Theory and Research.'' New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
*Mullins, Nicholas. 1973. ''Theories and Theory Groups in Contemporary American Sociology.'' New York: Harper and Row.
*Müller-Prothmann, Tobias (2006): Leveraging Knowledge Communication for Innovation. Framework, Methods and Applications of Social Network Analysis in Research and Development, Frankfurt a. M. et al.: Peter Lang, .
*
*Moody, James, and Douglas R. White (2003). "Structural Cohesion and Embeddedness: A Hierarchical Concept of Social Groups." ''American Sociological Review'' 68(1):103-127

*
*Nohria, Nitin and Robert Eccles (1992). ''Networks in Organizations.'' second ed. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
*Nooy, Wouter d., A. Mrvar and Vladimir Batagelj. (2005). ''Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Scott, John. (2000). ''Social Network Analysis: A Handbook.'' 2nd Ed. Newberry Park, CA: Sage.
*Tilly, Charles. (2005). ''Identities, Boundaries, and Social Ties.'' Boulder, CO: Paradigm press.
*Valente, Thomas. (1995). ''Network Models of the Diffusion of Innovation.'' Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
* Wasserman, Stanley, & Faust, Katherine. (1994). ''Social Networks Analysis: Methods and Applications.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Watkins, Susan Cott. (2003). "Social Networks." Pp. 909–910 in ''Encyclopedia of Population.'' rev. ed. Edited by Paul Demeny and Geoffrey McNicoll. New York: Macmillan Reference.
*
*Watts, Duncan. (2004). ''Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age.'' W. W. Norton & Company.
*Wellman, Barry (1999). ''Networks in the Global Village.'' Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
*
*Wellman, Barry and Berkowitz, S.D. (1988). ''Social Structures: A Network Approach.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*
*White, Harrison, Scott Boorman and Ronald Breiger. 1976. "Social Structure from Multiple Networks: I Blockmodels of Roles and Positions." ''American Journal of Sociology'' 81: 730–80.

External links

*International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) list of software packages and libraries
Computer Programs for Social Network Analysis
page.
* 2010 : A comparative study of social network analysis tools by Combe, Largeron, Egyed-Zsigmond and Géry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Social Network Analysis Software
Social network analysis software,
Social networks
Comparisons of mathematical software
Data analysis software
Social network analysis