Age-related Differences in Online Social Networking

Abstract

Systematic developmental changes in personality have been observed over a large portion of the human lifespan. Furthermore, in separate studies, these traits have been shown to be predictors of local social network structure centered on an individual (i.e., ego-centered networks). We are currently exploring a sample of over 35,000 users in an online social networking community, ranging in age from 15 to 55, to investigate age-related differences in individual ego-centered networks. Our data will allow us to explore structural holes, reciprocal interactions, transitivity, and network similarity across ages for multiple attributes (e.g., age and location).