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Correlated dynamics in egocentric communication networks.
Márton Karsai1, Kimmo Kaski, János Kertész
1BECS, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland. marton.karsai@aalto.fi
Plos One
|August 7, 2012
Summary
Communication burstiness is a link property, not a node property, in human networks. Voice calls show imbalanced communication, while short messages are more balanced, influenced by technology and behavior.
Area of Science:
- Social Network Analysis
- Communication Dynamics
- Human Behavior
Background:
- Human communication exhibits complex temporal patterns.
- Understanding these patterns is crucial for analyzing social interactions mediated by technology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the fine-grained temporal structure of communication events.
- To investigate the role of network topology and individual dynamics in communication burstiness.
- To differentiate communication patterns across various channels like voice calls and short messages.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of communication sequences from millions of individuals across two channels.
- Examination of correlated event trains and their temporal structure.
- Comparison of directional communication balance within bursty trains versus average link behavior.
Main Results:
- Communication burstiness primarily characterizes links between pairs of individuals, not the ego or their neighbors.
- Voice calls exhibit significantly enhanced directional imbalance within bursty trains.
- Short messages show increased balance within bursty trains, influenced by technological constraints.
Conclusions:
- Burstiness is a link-centric phenomenon in human communication networks.
- Technological constraints and human behavioral features distinctly shape communication patterns in voice calls versus short messages.
- A model was developed to replicate empirical findings and elucidate mechanisms driving technology-mediated communication.
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