The structure of business social network sites: the case of MilanIN.
authors:
Ivana Pais – University of Brescia
Riccardo De Vita – University of Greenwich Roberto Marmo – University of Pavia
P.S. see the previous analysis work by same authors about same Business Network "MilanIN":
- Report Indagine MilanIn 2009, Business Networking MADE IN ITALY, http://www.slideshare.net/MilanIN/report-indagine-milan-in-business-networking-made-in-italy
To Create Your Own Wig Online To Create Your Own Wig Online
The structure of business social network sites: the case of MilanIN
1. SunBelt XXX Social Networks Conference
June 29 - July 04, 2010
The structure of business social network sites:
the case of Milan IN
– preliminary results –
Ivana Pais – University of Brescia (pais@jus.unibs.it)
Riccardo De Vita – University of Greenwich (r.devita@gre.ac.uk)
Roberto Marmo – University of Pavia
Teaching excellence for over a hundred years
2. 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
Teaching excellence for over a hundred years
3. 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 Based
o Social vs. Professional
o Online vs. Offline
o …
Teaching excellence for over a hundred years
4. 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 with
different network structures?
Teaching excellence for over a hundred years
5. 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 actors
o Linkedin Group Vs Facebook Group
4311 505 1357
Teaching excellence for over a hundred years
6. 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
Teaching excellence for over a hundred years
13. Facebook Group
Man; Woman
N Components Isolates Density Centralization Avg Degree
505 35 33 0.019** 79.0 % 9.43
(+1 dyad)
14. Linkedin Group
Man; Woman
N Components Isolates Density Centralization Avg Degree
505 6 5 0.027** 83.4 % 13.5
15. Multiplexity
% of ties in the % of ties in the
Linkedin Group Facebook Group
2.00% 2.86%
16. Clique size
Overall Clustering Coefficient
Facebook Group 0.584
Linkedin Group 0.494
17. Identifying relevant actors
Degree Centrality Degree Centrality
Top 5 actors in Linkedin Group Top 5 actors in Facebook Group
ID Facebook Linkedin ID Facebook Linkedin
344 0 432 19 406 3
347 7 260 886 139 7
276 2 101 620 87 3
1031 5 91 696 75 2
16 25 90 497 74 40
5 Key Players
KPP 2 – Using nodes
Facebook Group Linkedin Group
714 344
19 16
394 321
482 1101
1236 530
18. 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
Teaching excellence for over a hundred years
19. The next steps…
Data:
o Relations recommendations, physical interaction
o 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
Teaching excellence for over a hundred years
21. The structure of business social network sites:
the case of Milan IN
– preliminary results –
Ivana Pais – University of Brescia (pais@jus.unibs.it)
Riccardo De Vita – University of Greenwich (r.devita@gre.ac.uk)
Roberto Marmo – University of Pavia
Teaching excellence for over a hundred years