Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL

Derek L. HansenMaryland’s iSchool

Patterns are left behind

Research GoalDevelop powerful tools, processes, and methods that dramatically lower the barriers for community managers and researchers to make sense of social media interactions.

Online Community Analysis

Social Network AnalysisA systematic method for understanding relationships between entities.

Vertex-Specific Metrics• Betweenness Centrality• Degree Centrality• Eigenvector Centrality• Closeness Centrality

Network-Specific Metrics• Components• Density

Clusters & Subgroups• Grouped based on

shared connections

Research Question (1)• How can the complex, sophisticated set of

SNA techniques be supported in an intuitive manner for community analysts?

NodeXL (http://nodexl.codeplex.com)

Lesson’s Learned+ Tight integration of spreadsheet & visualization

+ Attribute data and SNA metrics can be mapped onto rich set of visual properties

+ Data importers

+ Dynamic filters

- Not platform independent or web-based- Lack of “undo”- Poor at dealing with multiple networks

Research Questions (2)• How do non-technical

users learn SNA and apply it to understand community interaction?

• What barriers do they encounter?

• How should SNA tools be customized for novices?

Novice SNA Study• Participants: 16 grad students in course on Online

Communities• Task: create insightful network visualization &

explanation of online community they’d been studying (3 weeks with feedback from peers & instructor)

• Data collection: diaries, observations, interviews, questionnaire, content analysis of assignments, in-class process recap

• Data analysis: grounded theory approach• Output: process model; challenges; supports

Mapping Sub-Groups of Ravelry

Finding an Alternate Admin

Inferring Relationships

Challenges & Supports

What Novices Need…• Social media “network” data importers• Better defined & recognized network

visualization “genres”• Improved layout algorithms• The ability to share visualizations & analysis• Basic network literacy

Research Questions (3)• How can SNA be applied to different social

media platforms to gain actionable insights?• What network “genres” lead to actionable

insights?

Personal Email Collection

Mapping Corporate Email Communication Between Research Groups

Surgery Videos on YouTube

Finding Friendship Clusters in Facebook

By Bernie Hogan

Finding Theorists in Lostpedia

Mapping Events with Twitter EventGraphs

ConclusionThere is a pressing need to support community managers and researchers trying to make sense of social media data – especially relational data.

Novices benefit from tight data/visualization coupling, example visualizations, data importers, good network layouts, and collaboration even from other novices.

Researchers and practitioners could benefit from a pallet of network visualization “genres” for specific social media networks, which can be used to gain actionable insights.

The Future of Social Media Networks

• Networks and place• Networks over time• Comparing multiple networks• Bi-modal, multiplex, affiliation and other

non-standard networks• Improved relational data spigots

Reflections for Social Media Researchers

• Don’t get bogged down in endless data exploration

• Network analysis is ideally coupled with qualitative methods

• Remove unnecessary elements of visualizations so it clearly tells your story

• Work with real-world clients, not just academically “interesting” work

Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL

Derek L. Hansen

Thanks to Microsoft Research• Natasa Milic-Frayling

• Dan Fay

Collabortors:• Ben Shneiderman

• Marc Smith • Dana Rotman

• Elizabeth Bonsignore•

The NodeXL Team

Ask me about…• Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) in the service of

education and design• BioTracker – a mobile-based game designed to

capture multimedia data about rare species for the Encyclopedia of Life

• Fact Check: HPV – a Facebook app that tests a novel design to disseminate info on stigmatized illnesses

• Using Twitter data to map the political bias of news outlet audiences

• Supporting local community action in Alexandria, Virginia with ACTion Alexandria