Conceptual Quantification of the Dynamicity of Longitudinal Social Networks

Abstract

A longitudinal social network evolves over time through the creation and/or deletion of links among a set of actors (e.g. individuals or organisations). Longitudinal social networks are studied by network science and social science researchers to understand network evolution, trend propagation, friendship and belief formation, diffusion of innovations, the spread of deviant behaviour and more. In the current literature, there are different approaches and methods (e.g. Sampson's approach and the Markov model) to study the dynamics of longitudinal social networks. These approaches and methods have mainly been utilised to explore evolutionary changes of longitudinal social networks from one state to another and to explain the underlying reasons for these changes. However, they cannot quantify the level of dynamicity of the over time network changes and the contribution of individual network members (i.e. actors) to these changes. In this study, we first develop a set of measures to quantify different aspects of the dynamicity of a longitudinal social network. We then apply these measures, in order to conduct empirical investigations, to two different longitudinal social networks. Finally, we discuss the implications of the application of these measures and possible future research directions of this study.