| Popis: |
Many factors such as the tendency of individuals to develop relationships based on mutual acquaintances, proximity, common interests, or combinations thereof, are known to contribute toward evolution of social networks. In this paper, we analyze an evolving online social aggregator FriendFeed, which collates content generated by participating individuals on a variety of Web 2.0 services and allows easy dissemination of the aggregated content to other participants of the aggregator. Analyzing data collected between September 2008 and May 2009, we find that although preferential attachment captures the evolution of the network, its influence varies significantly based on how long ago a user joined the service. In particular, preferential attachment does not appear to apply to new entrants of the FriendFeed service. Analysis suggests that proximity bias plays an important role in link formation. We study the influence of common foci and find that individuals have a greater affinity toward those with similar interests. |
