Exploring connections to unrelated social clusters in a socio temporal communication network

Abstract

In this study, we first explore whether individuals with the greatest number of weak ties to others will have more connections to a greater number of unrelated social clusters. Secondly, we explore whether individuals with the greatest number of weak ties to others will serve as bridges between isolated social clusters. Thirdly, we analyse whether the level of call activity is dependant on different types of social network structures (i.e. strong ties and weak ties). Here, we investigate the effects of social ties on mobile phone usage behaviour. The research conceptual model represents the relationship between three independent variables and one dependant variable. The three independent variables - (i) call activity; (ii) connection to unrelated social clusters; and (iii) social bridges between unrelated social clusters. We suggest that each of the three independent variables has an impact on the way individuals use mobile phone devices. By exploring the MIT Reality Mining Data, we first found a trend where the individuals who have the greatest number of strong social ties to others display the highest levels of call activity. On the contrary, individuals who have a modest number of strong ties, but have a high number of acquaintances show lower levels of call activity purely because the weak tie relationships do not require as much maintenance as the strong ties. Secondly, we visualise where unrelated social clusters within a social network displayed some connections to one another. We propose that the majority of these connections interlinking such unrelated social clusters would be weak ties. Thirdly, we discover that the individuals who display the greatest number of weak tie relationships are linked to the individuals in various social clusters. © 2009 Elsevier Inc.