Submitted by: James Nastos
Humans (and many types of animals) exist in social societies in which closely-knit communities form naturally. In today’s age of mapping out the data of social networks, researchers (and marketers) are interested in extracting any sort of information and implications from network structure.
Applying the mathematics of graph theory to sociological principles of friendship and social cohesion, we have developed, tested and published novel graph-theoretical models and computer algorithms that group individuals by social strength and predict a hierarchical organization of those individuals.
Possible applications include targeted advertising, identifying leaders in terrorist networks, central hubs in transportation networks, or dominant species in an ecosystem.