The role of reciprocation in social network formation, with an application to blogging

Alexia Gaudeul and Caterina Giannetti

No 2012-031, Jena Economics Research Papers from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena

Abstract: This paper deals with the role of reciprocation in the formation of individuals' social networks. We follow the activity of a panel of bloggers over more than a year and investigate the extent to which initiating a relation brings about its reciprocation. We adapt a standard capital investment model to study how reciprocation affects the build-up of the individual social capital of bloggers, as measured by their links and interactions with others. This allows us to measure the role of content production and relationship building in the dynamics of online social networks and to distinguish between the social networking and media aspects of blogging.

Keywords: Blogs; Friendship; LiveJournal; Reciprocation; Social Capital; Social Networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 D85 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-06-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-net and nep-soc
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Related works:
Working Paper: The role of reciprocation in social network formation, with an application to blogging (2011)
Working Paper: The role of reciprocation in social network formation, with an application to blogging (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2012-031

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