2. Most studied attributes within social network theory:

3. Content – nature of resource exchange

4. Direction – flow of resources

5. Tie Strength - strength of relationships

6. Social network analysis combines elements of mathematical graph theory and sociology to draw inferences about the characteristics of a human network.

7. In LIScontext, social network analysis looks at patterns of information exchange – what kind of information is exchanged and between whom.These areas can be studied using social network analysis Information Opportunities Information Routes Information Needs Information Exposure Information Legitimation

9. Social network analysis provides insight into the human network by the identification of cohesive social groups and key information brokers. Positions in a network reveal who controls, facilitates, or inhibits the flow of information, and who has similar information needs or uses.

10. Social network analysis provides tools for the information professional which can help in the identification, diagnosis, and modification of information routes.

12. This became known as the “Small World Experiment” an today is often referred to as the concept of “Six Degrees of Separation.”

13. In 1996. Cornell graduate student Duncan Watts began researching how crickets seemed able to synchronize their chirping behavior, surmising that information about when to chrip was spreading through the cricket network. He began to explore how information flowed through human networks as well.

14. Watts read Mark Granovetter’s “Strength of Weak Ties” theory, and considered the ties he saw in the spacemen and cavemen characters he knew from science fiction -- the spacemen communicated remotely so that the people they knew didn’t know each other, while the cavemen lived in isolated groups and knew everybody their friends knew. Watts then built a mathematical model that would describe both situations and every possibility in between.http://www.digitaltonto.com/2009/forces-drive-social-networks/

16. Watts and his colleague Steve Strogatz went on to replicate Milgram’s “six degrees” study, using email communication, and verified his findings that a relatively small number of steps can connect everyone to each other.

17. Today, Duncan Watts (right) directs the Human Social Dynamics Group at Yahoo! Research.

18. Social network theory offers these insights of relevance for today’s social media:

19. Communities are primary, and a network is only as strong as the communities that it contains.

20. People want to connect

21. A small number of extremely active members drive network growth.

23. One of the first scholars to apply social network analysis to the study of online communities and online learning.Haythornthwaite introduced five principles used to examine social networks Cohesion Describes attributes of the whole network, indicating the presence of strong socializing relationships among network members, & likelihood of their having the access to same information resources. Prominence Measures of prominence indicate which actor(s) have influence or power in a network. Structural Equivalence Identifies actors with similar roles. Actors are considered to be structurally equivalent if they fill the same role with respect to members of the same network. Brokeragerelations Connections between disorganized others. These connections represent entrepreneurial opportunities for those who occupy them. Range The array of sources to which an actor has access.

24. Social Network Theory (SNT) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) Librarian AnnaLaura Brown, whose blog, Social Networking Librarian, provides resources for libraries interested in expanding their social networking practices, offers these predictions: Social media and library trends for 2011 1. Mobile applications, particularly those designed for library websites. 2. QR Codes, matrix barcodes 3. Google Applications, including Google Docs for collaboration and Google Voice for text messaging 4. Twitter, which can offer more than Facebook when it comes to reference and instant answers to questions 5. Increased use of Virtual Reference 6. Increased collaboration between librarians at more than one institution as well as between faculty and librarians 7. Increase in librarians teaching social media classes 8. Using social media as a teaching tool and not just as a tool for library promotion. http://socialnetworkinglibrarian.com/2010/12/21/social-media-and-library-trends-for-2011/