Social SQL: Tools for Exploring Social Databases

Social media are constructed from the collective contributions of potentially millions of individuals and present an increasingly common and large scale form of database. As these databases grow in social and technical importance exploration of their structure is needed. The social nature of much of this data is an added opportunity and challenge, providing contributions to social science questions about large scale social behavior while raising technical thresholds caused by the scale and complexity of the data. The detailed records of the interactions of users of social media form a foundation for higher level representations of the behavior of users and communities in these systems. Social networks are a key structure in social media databases. In the following several visualization tools are used to illustrate social networks and other structures within these data sets. These images highlight behavioral motifs that can be understood through social science theories about roles and ...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: DEBU
• Authors: Marc A. Smith, Vladimir Barash
• Keywords: DEBU 2008, Social, Social Media, Social Science