Using Facebook as a Data Source and Platform for e-Researching Social Networks

Date

2008

Authors

Ackland, Robert

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

ESRC National Centre for e-Social Science

Abstract

Social networking services (SNS) such as Facebook and Orkut enable new research into the role of individual characteristics in friendship patterns and the diffusion of tastes in social networks. This paper assesses the opportunities and challenges posed by SNSs for empirical research into online social networks. It is argued that SNSs may eventually provide platforms for delivering social network analysis e-Research tools, and a prototype tool built using the OpenSocial API is presented. MyExperiment has been described as "Facebook for scientists"; this paper contends that that SNSs such as Facebook may eventually be described as "GridSphere for e-Social Scientists".

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Citation

Source

Proceedings of International Conference on e-Social Science 2008

Type

Conference paper

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

License Rights

Restricted until

2037-12-31