Social network analysis on a topic-based navigation guidance system in a public health portal

We investigated a topic-based navigation guidance system in the World Health Organization portal, compared the link connection network and the semantic connection network derived from the guidance system, analyzed the characteristics of the 2 networks from the perspective of the node centrality (in_closeness, out_closeness, betweenness, in_degree, and out_degree), and provided the suggestions to optimize and enhance the topic-based navigation guidance system. A mixed research method that combines the social network analysis method, clustering analysis method, and inferential analysis methods was used. The clustering analysis results of the link connection network were quite different from those of the semantic connection network. There were significant differences between the link connection network and the semantic network in terms of density and centrality. Inferential analysis results show that there were no strong correlations between the centrality of a node and its topic information characteristics. Suggestions for enhancing the navigation guidance system are discussed in detail. Future research directions, such as application of the same research method presented in this study to other similar public health portals, are also included.