Abstract

Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL offers backgrounds in information studies, computer science, and sociology. This book is divided into three parts: analyzing social media, NodeXL tutorial, and social-media network analysis case studies.

Part I provides background in the history and concepts of social media and social networks. Also included here is social network analysis, which flows from measuring, to mapping, and modeling collections of connections. The next part focuses on the detailed operation of the free and open-source NodeXL extension of Microsoft Excel, which is used in all exercises throughout this book. In the final part, each chapter presents one form of social media, such as e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Youtube. In addition, there are descriptions of each system, the nature of networks when people interact, and types of analysis for identifying people, documents, groups, and events.

• Walks you through NodeXL, while explaining the theory and development behind each step, providing takeaways that can apply to any SNA
• Demonstrates how visual analytics research can be applied to SNA tools for the mass market
• Includes case studies from researchers who use NodeXL on popular networks like email, Facebook, Twitter, and wikis
• Download companion materials and resources at https://nodexl.codeplex.com/documentation

"Using NodeXL is a key part of developing critical network literacies, understanding personal, professional and political networks is a skill we all need to develop today.  This book is one of the simplest ways to gain network insights and build useful maps that can guide your decisions." - Howard Rheingold, author, The Virtual Community, Smart Mobs; lecturer, Stanford, UC Berkeley

"Social networks are fundamental to all societies, but the SNA tools and concepts have often been esoteric and demanding.  NodeXL is a easy and fun way to learn basic network concepts and techniques, readers can quickly develop mastery of core social network analysis concepts and apply them to personally meaningful data sets from popular services like email, Twitter, flickr, and Facebook."- Prof. Barry Wellman, University of Toronto, Sociologist, Founder of the International Network for Social Network Analysis

"Social media inside organizations and enterprises creates new opportunities for mapping social networks at work.  Using NodeXL is one of the simplest ways business managers can gain an introduction to social network concepts and visualizations by applying them to their own email, blogs, wikis, and other communication records.  The insights from enterprise social networks can reveal the real "org-chart" - highlighting key people, groups, and locations in the organization." - Prof. Rob Cross, University of Virginia, Author of Driving Results Through Social Networks and Hidden Power of Social Networks

"Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL provides a much needed resource for the social media research community, as it describes network theory, provides compelling examples using data sources like Twitter and Flickr, and highlights how to use a free sophisticated tool for analysis.  This is the perfect book for anyone trying to analyze the behavior of online social networks and beyond." - Adam Perer, Research Scientist, IBM Research

"This book provides a basic introduction to social network analysis, followed by practical instruction and examples on gathering data from online sources, importing into Excel, and then analyzing the data through Excel. The book will be important for promoting research in the area for those in information science, sociology, cultural studies, virtual community, and e-commerce." - Caroline Haythornthwaite, PhD, Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"As social media networks become critical to e-commerce and organizational strategies, potent social network analysis tools like NodeXL are essential to understand customer communities and optimize internal and external communication. This thorough and thoughtful book demonstrates the analysis and visualization of networks that can yield actionable insights." - Tony Hey, Vice President, Microsoft Research, External Research 

"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."--Fernando Berzal, Computing Reviews, March 2011