Analyzing Social Media Networks
with NodeXL
Derek Hansen, Cody Dunne,
and Ben Shneiderman
Patterns are left behind
Research Goal
Develop powerful tools, processes, and
methods that dramatically lower the
barriers for community managers and
researchers to make sense of social
media interactions.
Online Community Analysis
Social Network Analysis
A systematic method for understanding relationships
between entities.
Vertex-Specific Metrics
• Betweenness Centrality
• Degree Centrality
• Eigenvector Centrality
• Closeness Centrality
Network-Specific Metrics
• Components
• Density
Research Question (1)
• How can the complex, sophisticated set of
SNA techniques be supported in an intuitive
manner for community analysts?
NodeXL (http://nodexl.codeplex.com)
Research Question (2)
• How do non-technical
users learn SNA and
apply it to understand
community interaction?
• What barriers do they
encounter?
• How should SNA tools be
customized for novices?
Finding a New Administrator
Research Question (3)
• How can SNA be applied to different social
media platforms to gain actionable insights?
http://nodexl.codeplex.com
Forthcoming,
Sept 2010
Personal Email Collection
Mapping Corporate Email Communication
Between Research Groups
Who is Talking about Kodak on Twitter?
Finding Friendship Clusters in Facebook?
Building Fan Communities on YouTube
Conclusion
There is a pressing need to support community
managers and researchers trying to make sense
of social media data.
We have shown that non-technical students can
learn SNA and apply it to online community
interactions using NodeXL with minimal support.
We have begun to create a pallet of network
visualizations for specific social media networks,
which can be used to gain actionable insights.
Analyzing Social Media Networks
with NodeXL
Derek Hansen, Cody Dunne,
and Ben Shneiderman
Thanks to Microsoft Research
• Natasa Milic-Frayling
• Dan Fay
Our HCIL Collabortors:
• Dana Rotman
• Elizabeth Bonsignore
• Udayan Khourana
• Puneet Sharma
http://nodexl.codeplex.com
The NodeXL Team