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Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL

Insights from a Connected World

By
  • Derek Hansen, iSchool, CASCI Director, University of Maryland
  • Ben Shneiderman, Department of Computer Science, Founding Director of the HCI Lab, University of Maryland, Fellow of the ACM, SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Marc Smith, Chief Social Scientist, Connected Action Consulting Group, http://www.connectedaction.net/

Businesses, entrepreneurs, individuals, and government agencies alike are looking to social network analysis (SNA) tools for insight into trends, connections, and fluctuations in social media. Microsoft’s NodeXL is a free, open-source SNA plug-in for use with Excel. It provides instant graphical representation of relationships of complex networked data. But it goes further than other SNA tools -- NodeXL was developed by a multidisciplinary team of experts that bring together information studies, computer science, sociology, human-computer interaction, and over 20 years of visual analytic theory and information visualization into a simple tool anyone can use. This makes NodeXL of interest not only to end-users but also to researchers and students studying visual and network analytics and their application in the real world.

In Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL, members of the NodeXL development team up to provide readers with a thorough and practical guide for using the tool while also explaining the development behind each feature. Blending the theoretical with the practical, this book applies specific SNA instructions directly to NodeXL, but the theory behind the implementation can be applied to any SNA.

To learn more about Analyzing Social Media Networks and NodeXL, visit the companion site at www.mkp.com/nodexl

Audience
Researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in visual analytics, information visualization, HCI, web design, user experience design, information architecture, database administrators, data/Information analysts, information and enterprise architects, data warehouse and systems engineers

Paperback, 304 Pages

Published: August 2010

Imprint: Morgan Kaufmann

ISBN: 978-0-12-382229-1

Reviews

  • "Hansen, Shneiderman, and Smith, along with their collaborators, have written a readable introduction to the field of social media network analysis. Furthermore, the book is a nice tutorial on an interesting tool that readers can experiment with on their own. For example, the readers can simply use the Facebook application provided by Bernie Hogan, one of the book’s collaborators, to analyze the ego networks that they know best: their own network of friends, family, and acquaintances. This book offers a sure way to understand some of the basic concepts of network analysis."--Computing Reviews

    "This is a niche book that is also multi-discliplinary. NodeXL has involved experts in information studies, computer science, sociology, human-computer interaction and cultural studies and this book has contributions from researchers in all these fields and more. It is however highly practical and will motivate readers to use this tool for their own research."--I-Programmer.info

    "The authors explore the applications of Microsoft’s NodeXL, a free, open-source social network analysis (SNA) plug-in for use with Excel. It provides instant graphical representation of relationships of complex networked data, drawing on over 20 years of visual analytic theory and information visualization."--Usability News


Contents

  • I. Getting Started with Analyzing Social Media Networks

    1. Introduction to Social Media and Social Networks
    2. Social media: New Technologies of Collaboration
    3. Social Network Analysis: Measuring, Mapping, and Modeling Collections of Connections

    II. NodeXL Tutorial: Learning by Doing

    4. Getting Started with NodeXL, Layout, Visual Design, and Labeling
    5. Calculating and Visualizing Network Metrics 
    6. Preparing Data and Filtering
    7. Clustering and Grouping

    III Social Media Network Analysis Case Studies

    8. Email: The Lifeblood of Modern Communication
    9. Thread Networks: Mapping Message Boards and Email Lists
    10. Twitter: Conversation, Entertainment, And Information, All in One Network! - Scott Golder, Vladimir Barash
    11. Visualizing and Interpreting Facebook Networks - Bernie Hogan
    12. WWW Hyperlink Networks - Robert Ackland
    13. Flickr: Linking People, Photos, and Tags - Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues and Natasa Milic-Frayling
    14. YouTube: Contrasting Patterns of Interaction and Prominence - Dana Rotman and Jennifer Golbeck
    15. Wiki Networks: Connections of Creativity and Collaboration - Howard T. Welser, Patrick Underwood, Dan Cosley, Derek Hansen and Laura Black
    Appendix- NodeXL for Programmers- Tony Capone

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