Metrics and models for social networks

Abstract

Social networks can be modeled and analyzed in terms of graph theory. This chapter provides an overview of the mathematical modeling of social networks with an overview of the metrics used to characterize them and the models used to artificially mimic the formation of such networks. We discuss metrics based on distances, degrees, and neighborhoods as well as the use of such metrics to detect change in the network structure. We also discuss the kind of structural differences that distinguish social networks from other types of natural networks together with the implications of these differences about the way in which these networks function.