大数据为社会网络分析带来“黄金时代”

Big Data Brings Social Network Analysis into A Golden Age

社会网络分析因为其独特的理论视角和分析方法,在社会学、经济学、政治学、传播学、计算科学、公共健康等领域得到广泛关注和运用。网络社交平台的兴起和随之产生的海量关系数据的出现,为社会网络分析带来了空前的机遇。其一,海量社交数据为解答网络分析中的经典问题提供了更高精度、更完备的数据来源;其二,网络平台使大规模的随机控制实验成为可能,有利于做出更有说服力的因果推断;其三,推动学术界对互联网的社会后果等诸多新的问题的提出和研究。本文通过大量实例就这三个观点展开论述,彰显大数据将社会网络分析带入了“黄金时代”。

Distinguished by its unique theoretical perspective and analytic methods,social network analysis(SNA)has gained much traction in multiple disciplines,such as sociology,economics,political science,communication,computer science,and public health,etc.The emergence of social media platforms and the resulting big data have brougtht unprecedented resources and opportunities for SNA.To begin with,voluminous relational data are often of high precision and completeness,enabling researchers to reexamine many classic yet unsolved research questions.Secondly,social media platforms make large scale randomized controlled experiments possible,providing more convincing evidence for causal inferences.Thirdly,big data push researcher to ask and explore new questions brought by the ubiquitous use of Internet and related technologies.The paper draws on various cases to illustrate above three aspects,highlighting the incoming of a Golden Age for SNA thanks to big data.