The Role of Gender in Social Network Organization

The digital traces we leave behind when engaging with the modern world offer an interesting lens through which we study behavioral patterns as expression of gender. Although gender differentiation has been observed in a number of settings, the majority of studies focus on a single data stream in isolation. Here we use a dataset of high resolution data collected using mobile phones, as well as detailed questionnaires, to study gender differences in a large cohort. We consider mobility behavior and individual personality traits among a group of more than $800$ university students. We also investigate interactions among them expressed via person-to-person contacts, interactions on online social networks, and telecommunication. Thus, we are able to study the differences between male and female behavior captured through a multitude of channels for a single cohort. We find that while the two genders are similar in a number of aspects, there are robust deviations that include multiple facets of social interactions, suggesting the existence of inherent behavioral differences. Finally, we quantify how aspects of an individual's characteristics and social behavior reveals their gender by posing it as a classification problem. We ask: How well can we distinguish between male and female study participants based on behavior alone? Which behavioral features are most predictive

A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF COMPUTATIONAL METHODS IN AND RESEARCH TAXONOMY OF HOMOPHILY IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Homophily is both a principle for social group formation with like-minded people as well as a mechanism for social interactions. Recent years have seen a growing body of management research on homophily particularly on large-scale social media and digital platforms. However, the predominant traditional qualitative and quantitative methods employed face validity issues and/or are not well-suited for big social data. There are scant guidelines for applying computational methods to specific research domains concerning descriptive patterns, explanatory mechanisms, or predictive indicators of homophily. To fill this research gap, this paper offers a structured review of the emerging literature on computational social science approaches to homophily with a particular emphasis on their relevance, appropriateness, and importance to information systems research. We derive a research taxonomy for homophily and offer methodological reflections and recommendations to help inform future research

Network constraints on the mixing patterns of binary node metadata

We consider the network constraints on the bounds of the assortativity coefficient, which measures the tendency of nodes with the same attribute values to be interconnected. The assortativity coefficient is the Pearson's correlation coefficient of node attribute values across network edges and ranges between -1 and 1. We focus here on the assortativity of binary node attributes and show that properties of the network, such as degree distribution and the number of nodes with each attribute value place constraints upon the attainable values of the assortativity coefficient. We explore the assortativity in three different spaces, that is, ensembles of graph configurations and node-attribute assignments that are valid for a given set of network constraints. We provide means for obtaining bounds on the extremal values of assortativity for each of these spaces. Finally, we demonstrate that under certain conditions the network constraints severely limit the maximum and minimum values of assortativity, which may present issues in how we interpret the assortativity coefficient.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure

Apoio social online entre cuidadores de crianças e jovens: revisão integrativa em rede da literatura

The Internet may be a source of social support that promotes the improvement of parental competency. The objective of this study was to analyze the international panorama regarding research on online social support among caregivers of children and youth. This study comprises a Networked Integrative Review of Literature (NIRL) that approaches the literature as an associative network of variables and analyzes it based on the Theory of Graphs. Data search was conducted in two databases and the studies were filtered based on two relevance tests. This NIRL comprises 36 articles, whose results were converted into 53 variables that were categorized according to their relationship. Considering the recurrence of relationships among the variables, it is concluded that “Participation in online groups” promotes “Social support”, “Connection to other people in the same situation” and the emergence of a “Sense of Community”. Other findings are discussed based on the network measures.A Internet pode ser uma fonte de apoio social que auxilia no aprimoramento de competências parentais. Objetivou-se analisar o panorama internacional das pesquisas que investigaram apoio social online entre cuidadores de crianças e jovens. O estudo consiste em uma Revisão Integrativa em Rede da Literatura (RIRL) que aborda a literatura como uma rede de associação de variáveis e a analisa com base na Teoria dos Grafos. A busca ocorreu em duas bases de dados e os estudos foram filtrados por meio de dois testes de relevância. Foram resgatados 36 artigos, cujos resultados foram convertidos em 53 variáveis, que foram categorizadas conforme suas relações. Considerando-se a recorrência de relações entre as variáveis, conclui-se que “Participação em grupos online” favorece o “Apoio social”, a “Conexão com outras pessoas na mesma situação” e o surgimento do “Senso de comunidade”. Outros achados são discutidos de acordo com as medidas de redes.A Internet pode ser uma fonte de apoio social que auxilia no aprimoramento de competências parentais. Objetivou-se analisar o panorama internacional das pesquisas que investigaram apoio social online entre cuidadores de crianças e jovens. O estudo consiste em uma Revisão Integrativa em Rede da Literatura (RIRL) que aborda a literatura como uma rede de associação de variáveis e a analisa com base na Teoria dos Grafos. A busca ocorreu em duas bases de dados e os estudos foram filtrados por meio de dois testes de relevância. Foram resgatados 36 artigos, cujos resultados foram convertidos em 53 variáveis, que foram categorizadas conforme suas relações. Considerando-se a recorrência de relações entre as variáveis, conclui-se que “Participação em grupos online” favorece o “Apoio social”, a “Conexão com outras pessoas na mesma situação” e o surgimento do “Senso de comunidade”. Outros achados são discutidos de acordo com as medidas de redes

Topical Alignment in Online Social Systems

Understanding the dynamics of social interactions is crucial to comprehend human behavior. The emergence of online social media has enabled access to data regarding people relationships at a large scale. Twitter, specifically, is an information oriented network, with users sharing and consuming information. In this work, we study whether users tend to be in contact with people interested in similar topics, i.e., if they are topically aligned. To do so, we propose an approach based on the use of hashtags to extract information topics from Twitter messages and model users' interests. Our results show that, on average, users are connected with other users similar to them. Furthermore, we show that topical alignment provides interesting information that can eventually allow inferring users' connectivity. Our work, besides providing a way to assess the topical similarity of users, quantifies topical alignment among individuals, contributing to a better understanding of how complex social systems are structured