Online Community & Network Effects

• Online communities consist of individuals united by a common purpose, guided by policies, and supported by a platform for virtual communication.
• A social network constitutes a collection of interconnected, socially relevant nodes.

Network Effect

• The value or benefit an agent receives from a product or service increases as more agents consume it.
• As the number of users of a product or service grows, so does the benefit to existing users.
• For instance, being on Facebook is more beneficial when more people are on the platform.
• More users of a product equate to a positive effect for all.

Network Vocabulary

• Networks have two primary components

Nodes/Vertices

• Nodes or vertices represent entities of interest within the network.
• Nodes are not limited to people; they can represent families, organizations, businesses, or airports.
• Any entity of interest can function as a node.

Edges/Links/Connections/Ties

• Edges, links, or connections define the relationships between nodes.
• These relationships can represent friendships or connections between families or airports.

Undirected Network

• Depicts relationships without a specific direction or source.
• Reciprocity is assumed.

Directed Network

• A directed network indicates a source and a target; relationships are not assumed to be reciprocal.
• For example, if one Twitter user follows another, it does not guarantee the reverse.

Types of Networks

• Networks can generally be categorized as undirected or directed.

Social Networks

• These consist of socially relevant nodes connected by one or more relations, enabling interaction and information flow.

Measure of Nodes

• Centers around quantifying the importance or connectivity of individual nodes within a network.

Degree Centrality

• The degree centrality for a node refers to the number of connections it has with other nodes in the network.
• Indirect networks are measured in this way.

Centrality Measures in Directed Networks

• In direct networks, both indegree and outdegree centrality are considered.
• Assigning higher values to nodes with more connections is the main philosophy.

Formal Definitions

• In undirected networks, degree specifically refers to the number of edges connected to a node.
• In directed networks, outdegree counts the edges from a node to others, while indegree counts edges pointing towards the node.

Page Rank

• Ranks are applicable only to direct networks.
• Heavily influenced by the quantity of inbound links, also know as backlinks
• PageRank considers backlinks and the quality/relevance of the pages providing those links.
• Page B can have one inbound link/backlink and each one has pagerank.
• Page B has one inbound/backlink, Page C has two inbound/backlinks, Page A has zero inbound links.

Aggregate Network Metrics

• Focuses on overall characteristics and patterns within the network.
• Pertains to the measurements of distances within a network.

Average Geodesic Distance

• The shortest path between two nodes.
• It calculates the average of the shortest paths between all possible pairs of network nodes.
• Refers to the concept that everyone is connected to everyone else through no more than six connections.
• The shortest distance for one node to another can be only one instance of connection.

Density

• Measures how interconnected a network is.
• Calculation: the number of total edges divided by the maximal number of possible edges.
• A low density means information will not flow easily or fast.
• Denser networks allow faster information flow, implying that members are well-connected.

Network Representation with Matrices and Lists

• Networks can be represented as undirected or directed.
• Undirected networks feature reciprocal relationships.

Online Transmission of Ideas

• Ideas travel as nodes interact, creating flows.
• These flows are exchanges of resources, information, or influence among network members, occurring in multiple ways within communities or groups.

Word-of-Mouth (WOM) Communication

• WOM communication is when information spreads via product information shared from person to person.
• Ad equivalency value assesses the value of a mention as if it were a paid ad placement.
• Influence impression is an exposure to a brand via another individual's WOM.
• Negative WOM has grown relative to positive WOM.

Viral Spread of Content

• Step Framework enhances the probability of content virality through Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories

Social Currency

• Social currency leverages desirability to make one look cool or responsible by sharing to others.
• Involves exclusivity and insider information.
• Gamification applies game elements to encourage engagement.

Triggers

• Triggers utilize common phrases or references from current trends in hashtags, topics, content, and influencers.

Emotion

• The six basic emotions are considerations for content.
• Valence indicates whether the emotion being displayed is positive or negative.

Public

• Public displays and Social Proof have increased due to trends in observability which can lead to higher chances of imitation.

Practical Value

• Emphasizes sharing helpful or valuable information and incentives through social cues.

Stories

• Highlight the use of stories as a means to convey information effectively, similar to vessels carrying messages.

Explanation of online communities as groups with shared goals, policies, and communication platforms. Discussion of the network effect, where a product's value grows with user base. Introduction to network vocabulary, including nodes and edges.