social network

The Social Network Business Plan: 18 Strategies That Will Create Great Wealth
$24.95
Before I purchased this book, I had a vision of building an online community, but I had no idea how it would be profitable. I knew advertising was weak, and as a revenue stream was on it's way out the door. After reading the book, I am inspired all the more. I am extremely excited about the possibilities of being able to compensate members for their input. There was always something bothersome to me about sites where the visitors are doing all of the work and not getting paid. Mr. Silver does an excellent job of connecting the dots for the budding social network entrepreneur. The book clearly demonstrates methods to generate income from the community and for the community. The book is just the right mix of personality and business. Entrepreneurs at heart love to do whatever their passion is--not necessarily pore over business terms and definitions. Name one entrepreneur who ever got excited about writing a business plan...you can't. Mr. Silver makes the whole process so much easier by taking the boredom out and putting the passion back into the process of creating something beautiful.

Social and Economic Networks
$65.00
Jackson offers a deeper understanding of Web 2.0, the social web. There has been much buzz of Web 2.0 in this decade, as the successor to the dot coms. Indeed, the rise of Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and others has been spectacular. What this book offers are models of social relationships, that can be used with possible profitable results.

Try using the models to gauge some ideas as the existence and size distributions of clusters within a network. As well as finding key players within the network. Nor should you confine yourself to only those models offered in the text. What the book offers is also in some meta-modelling sense how to develop your own models and assess these against your networks.

Be warned that the book could be too mathematical for some readers. The treatment is sophisticated, and does not lend easily to a trivial read.

Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences)
$35.99
Social Network Analysis is taking off. in 1932 the sociologist Moreno was the first to draw a social network diagram, yet while the thinking has been seductive the technical capability of generating social network maps has only recently arrived on the researcher's desktop. Suddenly, as it were, many different sciences (social science, organisational research, market research, environmental research) are connecting the dots.

Social network analysis is mathematically vastly different from normal statistical methods. A whole new language is used - and concepts such as "betweenness" or "centrality" correctly convey the spatial nature of SN analysis.

This volume of 13 papers on the topic includes the perspectives of social scientists, through to cutting-edge SN mathematicians, and to be honest I come more from the former category. I'm a market research analyst and found the more intensely mathematical chapters, replete with formulae, simply beyond my grasp. So a warning for readers of my persuasion: you'll need to put on your technical hat.

That said, there is more than enough grist here for a lay person such as myself to learn the basics of Social Network Analysis and to understand many of the new dynamics of this field. I particularly recommend Linton Freeman's chapter of graphical techniques because it makes a warm link between the science and art of this emerging field.

The last chapter also more than makes the price of admission well worthwhile because it reviews available SN softwares (this book was published in 2005 so it is quite contemporary) and our small analytical firm has been able to invest in a good product. We now use the book as our technical support as we learn the unique and illuminating characteristics of social network analysis - in organisational research, and in some innovative work we're now able to do in market research. This volume is practical help.

Our society is increasingly networked through mobiles, internet and other layers of social connection. For social, organisational and market researchers this field is vital. I can therefore recommend this volume as a guidebook. If I found it valuable (despite being somewhat difficult,) you readers with a math degree will find it even more fascinating. Strongly recommended if you're getting into the SN field.

PS. On a broader front, let me also recommend:Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (Open Market Edition)

The Hidden Power of Social Networks: Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in Organizations
$32.95
Despite being five years old, this book is still the best book on social networks for managers. It should be read by all people in business. This review is short, but just an encouragement to read the books. You don't need more details in the review :)