Social network is the study of social entities, their interactions and relationships. From the network we can study the properties of its structure, and the role, position and prestige of each social actor. We can also find various kinds of sub-graphs, e.g., communities formed by groups of actors. Social network analysis is useful for the Web because the Web is essentially a virtual society, and thus a virtual social network, where each page can be regarded as a social actor and each hyperlink as a relationship. Many of the results from social networks can be adapted and extended for use in the Web context.

Contents: Types social networks, random network model vs complex network model, degree distribution, clustering coefficients. explicit vs implicit social network, directed vs undirected social network. centrality, community detection, link prediction. opinion dynamics and stability, hands on practices