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Interplay between Telecommunications and Face-to-Face Interactions: A Study Using Mobile Phone Data

Author

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  • Francesco Calabrese
  • Zbigniew Smoreda
  • Vincent D Blondel
  • Carlo Ratti

Abstract

In this study we analyze one year of anonymized telecommunications data for over one million customers from a large European cellphone operator, and we investigate the relationship between people's calls and their physical location. We discover that more than 90% of users who have called each other have also shared the same space (cell tower), even if they live far apart. Moreover, we find that close to 70% of users who call each other frequently (at least once per month on average) have shared the same space at the same time - an instance that we call co-location. Co-locations appear indicative of coordination calls, which occur just before face-to-face meetings. Their number is highly predictable based on the amount of calls between two users and the distance between their home locations - suggesting a new way to quantify the interplay between telecommunications and face-to-face interactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Calabrese & Zbigniew Smoreda & Vincent D Blondel & Carlo Ratti, 2011. "Interplay between Telecommunications and Face-to-Face Interactions: A Study Using Mobile Phone Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0020814
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020814
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    1. Diana Mok & Barry Wellman & Juan Carrasco, 2010. "Does Distance Matter in the Age of the Internet?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(13), pages 2747-2783, November.
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    1. Federica Cerina & Vincenzo De Leo & Marc Barthelemy & Alessandro Chessa, 2012. "Spatial Correlations in Attribute Communities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-10, May.
    2. Steenbruggen, John & Tranos, Emmanouil & Nijkamp, Peter, 2015. "Data from mobile phone operators: A tool for smarter cities?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 335-346.
    3. Rein Ahas & Harvey J. Miller & Frank Witlox, 2014. "From the Guest Editors: Mobility, Communication, and Urban Space," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 1-7, April.
    4. Santi Phithakkitnukoon & Zbigniew Smoreda & Patrick Olivier, 2012. "Socio-Geography of Human Mobility: A Study Using Longitudinal Mobile Phone Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(6), pages 1-9, June.
    5. Li, Cong & Zhang, Shumin & Li, Xiang, 2019. "Can multiple social ties help improve human location prediction?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 525(C), pages 1276-1288.
    6. Büchel, Konstantin & Ehrlich, Maximilian V. & Puga, Diego & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2020. "Calling from the outside: The role of networks in residential mobility," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    7. repec:plo:pcbi00:1003716 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Enwei Zhu & Stanislav Sobolevsky, 2018. "House Price Modeling with Digital Census," Papers 1809.03834, arXiv.org.
    9. Siiri Silm & Veronika Mooses & Anniki Puura & Anu Masso & Ago Tominga & Erki Saluveer, 2021. "The Relationship between Ethno-Linguistic Composition of Social Networks and Activity Space: A Study Using Mobile Phone Data," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 192-207.
    10. Csáji, Balázs Cs. & Browet, Arnaud & Traag, V.A. & Delvenne, Jean-Charles & Huens, Etienne & Van Dooren, Paul & Smoreda, Zbigniew & Blondel, Vincent D., 2013. "Exploring the mobility of mobile phone users," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(6), pages 1459-1473.
    11. Emmanouil Tranos & Peter Nijkamp, 2015. "Mobile phone usage in complex urban systems: a space–time, aggregated human activity study," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 157-185, April.
    12. Karimi, Fariba & Ramenzoni, Verónica C. & Holme, Petter, 2014. "Structural differences between open and direct communication in an online community," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 414(C), pages 263-273.
    13. Erlström, Andreas & Grillitsch, Markus & Hall, Ola, 2020. "The Geography of Connectivity: Trails of Mobile Phone Data," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/6, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    14. Contigiani, Andrea & Testoni, Marco, 2023. "Geographic isolation, trade secrecy, and innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(8).
    15. Steenbruggen, John & Borzacchiello, Maria Teresa & Nijkamp, Peter & Scholten, Henk, 2013. "Data from telecommunication networks for incident management: An exploratory review on transport safety and security," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 86-102.
    16. Siiri Silm & Veronika Mooses & Anniki Puura & Anu Masso & Ago Tominga & Erki Saluveer, 2021. "The Relationship between Ethno-Linguistic Composition of Social Networks and Activity Space: A Study Using Mobile Phone Data," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 192-207.
    17. Kourtit, Karima & Nijkamp, Peter & Steenbruggen, John, 2017. "The significance of digital data systems for smart city policy," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 13-21.
    18. Andreas Erlström & Markus Grillitsch & Ola Hall, 2022. "The geography of connectivity: a review of mobile positioning data for economic geography," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 679-707, October.

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