You ZQ, Han XP, Lü L, Yeung CH. Empirical Studies on the Network of Social Groups: The Case of Tencent QQ.
PLoS One 2015;
10:e0130538. [PMID:
26176850 PMCID:
PMC4503662 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0130538]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2014] [Accepted: 05/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Participation in social groups are important but the collective behaviors of human as a group are difficult to analyze due to the difficulties to quantify ordinary social relation, group membership, and to collect a comprehensive dataset. Such difficulties can be circumvented by analyzing online social networks.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
In this paper, we analyze a comprehensive dataset released from Tencent QQ, an instant messenger with the highest market share in China. Specifically, we analyze three derivative networks involving groups and their members-the hypergraph of groups, the network of groups and the user network-to reveal social interactions at microscopic and mesoscopic level.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE
Our results uncover interesting behaviors on the growth of user groups, the interactions between groups, and their relationship with member age and gender. These findings lead to insights which are difficult to obtain in social networks based on personal contacts.
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