Data sets originating from many different real world domains can be represented in the form of interaction networks in a very natural, concise and meaningful fashion. This is particularly true in the social context, especially given recent advances in Internet technologies and Web 2.0 applications leading to a diverse range of evolving social networks. Analysis of such networks can result in th...

Online social networking has become one of the most popular services on the Web. However, current social networks are like walled gardens in which users do not have full control over their data, are bound to specific usage terms of the social network operator and suffer from a lock-in effect due to the lack of interoperability and standards compliance between social networks. In this paper we p...

Social Network Analysis is a widely used approach in psychology, as in social science, economics and other fields. The peculiarity of this perspective is that it focuses not on individuals or other social units, but on the relationship between them. In this paper, our aim is to give a general review of this perspective, giving a description of resources and principal topics covered by Social Ne...

OBJECTIVE To investigate use and views of a Web site designed for weight control. DESIGN Questionnaire-based evaluation with data collected at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. SETTING Data were collected as part of a community-based, randomized controlled trial. PARTICIPANTS Subjects (n = 111) were participants of the intervention arm of a randomized controlled trial evaluating effectiv...

This paper aims at stating the main advantages and implications of Web 2.0 by analysing popular social networks in Portugal and addressing some examples of their utility. The authors present results of an empirical study applied to young people, aged between 12 and 20 years old, in a specific Portuguese region. In the first part of the study, main characteristics and differences between Web 1.0...

Managers are increasingly interested in the social web, as it provides numerous opportunities for strengthening and expanding relationships with customers, but the network processes that lead to these user-based assets are poorly understood. In this paper, the authors explore factors influencing use and participation in virtual social networks. They also discuss unusual drivers and inhibitors p...

In this paper we study the adoption of Web 2.0 platforms. Existing theoretical approaches to understand the adoption of IT are critically reexamined for their applicability in the Web 2.0 domain. We find that the two basic assumptions of traditional approaches 1) the unit of analysis is a person and 2) the technology ́s primary utility is personal, does not hold for Web 2.0 platforms. Instead, w...

In this paper we describe a method for identification of a particular user in large information spaces such as the Web is. Our main goal is to be able to decide whether the particular information found on the Web is relevant to the person being looked-up or not by taking into account additional background knowledge about that person: his or her social network. Our method combines semantically a...

Goodreads is an Amazon-owned book-based social web site for members to share books, read, review books, rate books, and connect with other readers. Goodreads has tens of millions of book reviews, recommendations, and ratings that may help librarians and readers to select relevant books. This article describes a first investigation of the properties of Goodreads users, using a random sample of 5...

Der folgende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit Social Networks (im Folgenden: SN) – gemeint sind Online-Communities im Internet. Nach einer kurzen Begriffsklärung sollen verschiedene Merkmale, Kommunikationsformen und Funktionen dieses relativ neuen Medienangebots aus einer medienwissenschaftlichen Perspektive beschrieben werden. Besonderes Augenmerk gilt dabei dem Zusammenspiel von Strategien der S...