Circlebook: Visual display of friend proximity

Abstract

In this paper we introduce Circlebook, a novel technique for visualizing an ego-network according to a distance function, using a radial layout. We apply such technique in order to support social network users (e.g. Facebook) in inspecting the level of interaction with their friends. In addition, we propose a set of control techniques that exploit this visualization, such as the filtering of contents created by the user's friends, and the end-user editing of the distance values. In addition, we detail the implementation of a prototype for both the visualization and the filtering techniques in a mobile setting. We evaluated the usability of the proposed approach through a user study, comparing our prototype with the current Facebook wall-post visualization. The experimental results shows that the user are immediately proficient with the visualization and that it can be successfully exploited for controlling the content filtering. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.