SociQL: A Query Language for the SocialWeb

Abstract

Social-networking sites are becoming increasingly popular with users of all ages. With much of our social activity happening online, these sites are now becoming the subject of scholarly study and research. Unfortunately, despite the fact that they collect similar content and support similar relations and activities, the current generation of these sites are hard to query programmatically, offering limited views of their data, effectively becoming disconnected islands of information. We describe SociQL, a high-level query language, and a corresponding service, to which social-networking sites can subscribe, that supports the integrated representation, querying and exploration of disparate social networks. Unlike generic web query languages, SociQL is designed specifically to support the integration of networks through a common information model for the purpose of examining sociological questions, motivated by social theories. The paper discusses the design and rationale for the SociQL language elements and syntax, as well as our experience using the SociQL service to query a variety of social-network sites.