Do You Really Like Her Post?: Network-Based Analysis for Understanding Like Activities in SNS

Abstract

As social network services (SNS) are expanding from friend-based to interest-based, users form a new type of relationships, namely interest-based relationships, with friends and others through social activities (e.g., likes, comments). Although such relationships are highlighted in the common-identity theory and have important values in theoretical and practical aspects, little evidence exists in the literature pertaining to the explanation of social activities as a central component for social network analysis and an association with friendship. In this paper, we build like networks in Instagram and analyze them through the lens of two salient aspects - friendship and interest - that constitute social networks. Our study results (1) show ambiguous interpretations of the like activities between users who are friends, based on the comparative analysis between friend- and non-friend-based like networks, and (2) demonstrate strong signals of the hashtag characterizing the interest-based relationships in users and content. Our research substantiates and gives insights on the common-identity theory applied in online social networks through data-driven, empirical analysis.