Among the concepts introduced in this week’s reading assignment, I was particularly intrigued by power-law distribution in relation to social networks. To examine this issue, I will focus on a very popular Facebook celebrity, George Takei, as an example of a network hub.
George Takei is relatively new to Facebook compared to many of us. He began his page on March 23, 2011, according to Forbes, and he already has 4,575,614 followers as of earlier today. In comparison, I started my Facebook page in 2005 and have accumulated 243 friends so far. Takei contradicts random network theory’s prediction that early nodes in networks become the biggest hubs (Barabási, p. 9), but we’ll get into that later.
Being one of Facebook’s top celebrity’s, Takei falls into the “power” spike of the long-tail power-law graph in social media. With so many people listening to his point of view (and 2,713,403 people talking about it, as of earlier today), he is in a position to influence society.
How did George Takei get to be so powerful so fast? For one, he has the support of several large and loyal online communities: Star Trek/Sci-Fi fans and the LGBT community. Boyd says, “Knowing one’s audience matters when trying to determine what is socially appropriate to say or what will be understood by those listening” (p. 50).
In Takei’s case, he knows his faithful communities well, and his invisible Facebook audience interacts successfully with him through comments, likes and shares, providing him with opportunities to observe reactions to his humorous posts and adjust his communication accordingly.
So back to hubs. Barabási explains that late-coming nodes like Takei can become hubs if they are fit. In this case, fitness refers to the ability of a node to attract links. If the fitness of a new node is significantly higher than the fitness of other nodes in the network, it can quickly become a hub in spite of the late arrival.
I think that we can all agree that George Takei is a very fit and healthy 76-year-old man, and his social media is fit as well, gaining significant popularity in such a short time. As a network power-holder, George Takei often uses his social influence to promote humanitarian issues.
“I get to decide when a message or cause matters,” Takei tells Forbes.
However, is the power-law distribution in social media healthy for society in general? What do you guys think?
George Takei is relatively new to Facebook compared to many of us. He began his page on March 23, 2011, according to Forbes, and he already has 4,575,614 followers as of earlier today. In comparison, I started my Facebook page in 2005 and have accumulated 243 friends so far. Takei contradicts random network theory’s prediction that early nodes in networks become the biggest hubs (Barabási, p. 9), but we’ll get into that later.
Being one of Facebook’s top celebrity’s, Takei falls into the “power” spike of the long-tail power-law graph in social media. With so many people listening to his point of view (and 2,713,403 people talking about it, as of earlier today), he is in a position to influence society.
How did George Takei get to be so powerful so fast? For one, he has the support of several large and loyal online communities: Star Trek/Sci-Fi fans and the LGBT community. Boyd says, “Knowing one’s audience matters when trying to determine what is socially appropriate to say or what will be understood by those listening” (p. 50).
In Takei’s case, he knows his faithful communities well, and his invisible Facebook audience interacts successfully with him through comments, likes and shares, providing him with opportunities to observe reactions to his humorous posts and adjust his communication accordingly.
So back to hubs. Barabási explains that late-coming nodes like Takei can become hubs if they are fit. In this case, fitness refers to the ability of a node to attract links. If the fitness of a new node is significantly higher than the fitness of other nodes in the network, it can quickly become a hub in spite of the late arrival.
I think that we can all agree that George Takei is a very fit and healthy 76-year-old man, and his social media is fit as well, gaining significant popularity in such a short time. As a network power-holder, George Takei often uses his social influence to promote humanitarian issues.
“I get to decide when a message or cause matters,” Takei tells Forbes.
However, is the power-law distribution in social media healthy for society in general? What do you guys think?
