A comparative analysis on modification of social networks over links with mechanism combinations

Abstract

In this study, the problem of preserving the characteristics of social networks changing dynamically is investigated. Distinct mechanism combinations have been implemented on the networks selected. Mechanism combinations providing to be preserved its properties as the small world network modifies are discovered. In total, 36 experiments are carried out considering two network classes, six link addition and three link deletion mechanisms. In the experiments, the structural properties of the network such as the average shortest path, average clustering coefficient and degree distribution of the snapshots of each network are analyzed and compared with the results of initial networks. It is seen that experiments related to some mechanism combinations implemented on the small world network yield similar results to the properties of initial small world network. In addition, dynamic social networks with different characteristics are created by making changes over the links in the experiments carried out. Moreover, mechanism combinations that fragment or randomize the structure of the network have been revealed in the experiments.