A tool for dynamic measurement of social capital embedded in Online Social Networks

This paper suggests a methodological improvement to study social capital in online social networks. We have designed a measurement tool based on Lin's theory of social resources. It is named Social Village and can be accessed in (http://socialvillage.me). By this tool, we are getting access to profile and friendship data of users of online social networks (Facebook and Google Plus). To access this data, we ask for users’ permission by social login and we have designed a gamified and interesting social survey that helps users get an in-depth knowledge of their online life. This tool combines three structural generators for social capital data (name, position and resource generators) and it has been developed in three languages (English, French and Persian) enabling us to conduct comparative studies. Based on our preliminary results presented in this paper, 412 users in sample of our study know who they are connected with in online social networks, they know their friends’ socio-economic positions and they are providing or receiving various resources through their online friendships. Gamified social survey used in this tool helped us gain a four times more response rate than existing online surveys. In this paper, we present, reviewed literature, theoretical framework, methodology of constructing the tool and results obtained

A tool for dynamic measurement of social capital embedded in Online Social Networks

This paper suggests a methodological improvement to study social capital in online social networks. We have designed a measurement tool based on Lin's theory of social resources. It is named Social Village and can be accessed in (http://socialvillage.me). By this tool, we are getting access to profile and friendship data of users of online social networks (Facebook and Google Plus). To access this data, we ask for users' permission by social login and we have designed a gamified and interesting social survey that helps users get an in-depth knowledge of their online life. This tool combines three structural generators for social capital data (name, position and resource generators) and it has been developed in three languages (English, French and Persian) enabling us to conduct comparative studies. Based on our preliminary results presented in this paper, 412 users in sample of our study know who they are connected with in online social networks, they know their friends' socio-economic positions and they are providing or receiving various resources through their online friendships. Gamified social survey used in this tool helped us gain a four times more response rate than existing online surveys. In this paper, we present, reviewed literature, theoretical framework, methodology of constructing the tool and results obtained

Online social capital : mood, topical and psycholinguistic analysis

Social media provides rich sources of personal information and community interaction which can be linked to aspect of mental health. In this paper we investigate manifest properties of textual messages, including latent topics, psycholinguistic features, and authors\u27 mood, of a large corpus of blog posts, to analyze the aspect of social capital in social media communities. Using data collected from Live Journal, we find that bloggers with lower social capital have fewer positive moods and more negative moods than those with higher social capital. It is also found that people with low social capital have more random mood swings over time than the people with high social capital. Significant differences are found between low and high social capital groups when characterized by a set of latent topics and psycholinguistic features derived from blogposts, suggesting discriminative features, proved to be useful for classification tasks. Good prediction is achieved when classifying among social capital groups using topic and linguistic features, with linguistic features are found to have greater predictive power than latent topics. The significance of our work lies in the importance of online social capital to potential construction of automatic healthcare monitoring systems. We further establish the link between mood and social capital in online communities, suggesting the foundation of new systems to monitor online mental well-being

Hybrid neighborhoods: From sandlots to social media

The rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) along with the mass urbanization phenomenon have led to dramatic changes in the ways people create social bonds, form and understand communities and act collectively towards common goals. One important change is that locality and distance is no longer perceived as a key prerequisite for the development of social bonds. Local communities, traditionally based on social grouping by physical proximity, have been seriously affected by technological media (social media and applications). Socio-psychological research shows that the major impact of technology-based communication is the transformation of social bonds between members of local communities and the social capital they accumulate. Within this framework, the research project “GEITONIA” has a dual scope. On a theoretical level, to shed more light on the different ways and degrees local communities use social media and applications in everyday life. On an empirical level, to examine if and in what ways a local social medium mobile application, developed for neighborhoods, can help the understanding of the sense of community and re-strengthen the social cohesion among its members. The article is an attempt to provide a quick glance on the key concepts and theoretical background on which the research project is based

Contactos de redes sociales en línea como repositorios de información

Les xarxes socials han existit des de l'antiguitat. Amb l'avanç tecnològic, han evolucionat cap a les modernes xarxes socials en línia. L'explosió d'aquestes darreres ha anat acompanyada d'importants impactes socials, incloent-hi el de l'àmbit educatiu. Ara un gran nombre d'estudiants universitaris pertanyen a alguna xarxa social i hi passen unes quantes hores a la setmana. Alguns sectors de la societat, com pares de família i professors, estan preocupats per l'impacte negatiu que això pot tenir tant en la seva activitat acadèmica com en la seva vida personal. Tanmateix, segons el connectivisme de George Siemens, els contactes d'una xarxa social en línia representen una font d'informació potencial i valuosa. En aquest estudi es va buscar identificar els factors que afavoreixen que un contacte d'una xarxa social en línia es converteixi en una font d'informació, davant una iniciativa d'aprenentatge. S'hi presenta una investigació, de naturalesa qualitativa, que es va fer en una institució privada d'ensenyament superior, amb un grup de vint-i-un estudiants acabats de sortir d'una carrera en particular i tretze professors universitaris. Els resultats demostren que els factors que afavoreixen que un contacte es converteixi en font d'informació en una xarxa social en línia són aquests: que es tingui coneixement sobre el contacte, que se sàpiga el que el contacte sap, que es tingui proximitat social, que el contacte tingui un cert prestigi, que es conegui el contacte en persona i que sigui accessible.Social networks have existed since ancient times. With advances in technology, they have evolved into modern online social networks. The explosion of online social networks has had a big impact on society in general and on education in particular. Most university students are now members of social networking sites and spend several hours a week online. Some sections of society, such as parents and teachers, are worried about the effect that this may have on students' academic work and personal lives. However, according to George Siemens' connectivism theory, online social network contacts represent a potential and valuable source of information. This study seeks to identify the factors that influence whether a contact on an online social network becomes a source of information in a learning initiative. The research uses a qualitative approach, and was carried out in a private higher education institution on a group of 21 graduates who had recently finished the same course, and on 13 university lecturers. The results show that the factors affecting whether online social network contacts become sources of information are: knowing about the contact; knowing what the contact knows; social closeness; the contact has a certain standing; knowing the contact in person, and; the contact is accessible. This research is supported by Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.Las redes sociales han existido desde la Antigüedad. Con el avance tecnológico, han evolucionado hacia las modernas redes sociales en línea. La explosión de estas últimas ha ido acompañada de importantes impactos sociales, incluido el del ámbito educativo. Un gran número de estudiantes universitarios pertenecen ahora a alguna red social y pasan varias horas a la semana en ella. Algunos sectores de la sociedad, como padres de familia y profesores, están preocupados por el impacto negativo que esto puede tener tanto en su actividad académica como en su vida personal. Sin embargo, según el conectivismo de George Siemens, los contactos de una red social en línea representan una potencial y valiosa fuente de información. En este estudio se buscó identificar los factores que favorecen que un contacto de una red social en línea se convierta en una fuente de información, ante una iniciativa de aprendizaje. Se presenta una investigación de naturaleza cualitativa, que se realizó en una institución privada de educación superior, con un grupo de 21 estudiantes recién egresados de una carrera en particular y 13 profesores universitarios. Los resultados demuestran que los factores que favorecen que un contacto se convierta en fuente de información en una red social en línea son: que se tenga conocimiento sobre el contacto, que se conozca lo que el contacto sabe, que se tenga cercanía social, que el contacto tenga cierto prestigio, que se conozca al contacto en persona y que sea accesible. Esta investigación cuenta con el apoyo del Tecnológico de Monterrey

Storing data on RFID tags: A standards-based approach

Online social networks are gaining increasing economic importance in light of the rising number of members. The numerous recent acquisitions priced at enormous amounts illustrate this development. Therefore, the growing relevance of online social networks in science as well as in practise revealed the need for adequate valuation models, which take into account the networks’ specific characteristics. Thus, this article develops an economic model for valuation of online social networks. The model allows the evaluation of whether the purchase prices on the market, which recently amounted to millions, are justifiable. Finally, the practical application of the model is illustrated by an example of the major European online social network XING.com

Privacy Issue: From Static to Dynamic Online Social Networks

Today's societies have become more dependent on social networks in terms of communications and interactions. These networks contain most of the people's activities, which can be public or even personal events. In the last decade, social networks have turned into more prominent platforms in managing and organizing public events. The Egyptian revolution in 2011 and the Ukrainian revolution in 2014 are good reflections of such events. However, it is not known how much the privacy issue of users is revealed in the reality as a consequence of their online interactions. In this work, we investigate the privacy issue in online social networks and its reflection on real life. Our dataset was extracted from the Facebook groups/pages that were involved in the 2019 Iraqi October revolution. Our approach generates a static network using the collected dataset. Then, we investigate the generated static network in terms of detecting potential anomalies. After that, we project the static network (including its characteristics) into a dynamic environment and generate a dynamic network for investigating the privacy issue in the real life. The contribution of this work lies in projecting a real-world static network into a dynamic environment aiming at investigating users' privacy in the real world. Finally, this kind of approach has not been given enough attention in the literature and it is therefore deeply investigated in this article