I just uploaded a new working paper on SSRN, titled “Composition and Structure of a Large Online Social Network in the Netherlands.” The paper describes an exploratory analysis of a unique dataset provided by Hyves, the largest online social network in the Netherlands, with currently over 11 million members. Here’s the abstract:
Limitations in data collection haven long been an obstacle in research on friendship networks. Most earlier studies use either a sample of ego-networks, or complete network data on a relatively small group (e.g., a single organization). The rise of online social networking services such as Friendster and Facebook, however, provides researchers with opportunities to study friendship networks on a much larger scale. In this study, we use complete network data from a popular online social networking service in the Netherlands, Hyves, comprising over eight million members and over 400 million online friendship relations. In the first study of its kind for the Netherlands, we examine the structure of this network in terms of the degree distribution, characteristic path length, clustering, and degree assortativity. First results indicate that this network shares features of other large complex networks, but also deviates in other respects. In addition, a comparison with other online social networks shows that these networks show remarkable similarities.
Download the PDF from here.