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The Strength of Friendship Ties in Proximity Sensor Data

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  • Vedran Sekara
  • Sune Lehmann

Abstract

Understanding how people interact and socialize is important in many contexts from disease control to urban planning. Datasets that capture this specific aspect of human life have increased in size and availability over the last few years. We have yet to understand, however, to what extent such electronic datasets may serve as a valid proxy for real life social interactions. For an observational dataset, gathered using mobile phones, we analyze the problem of identifying transient and non-important links, as well as how to highlight important social interactions. Applying the Bluetooth signal strength parameter to distinguish between observations, we demonstrate that weak links, compared to strong links, have a lower probability of being observed at later times, while such links—on average—also have lower link-weights and probability of sharing an online friendship. Further, the role of link-strength is investigated in relation to social network properties.

Suggested Citation

  • Vedran Sekara & Sune Lehmann, 2014. "The Strength of Friendship Ties in Proximity Sensor Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-8, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0100915
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100915
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Deanna Blansky & Christina Kavanaugh & Cara Boothroyd & Brianna Benson & Julie Gallagher & John Endress & Hiroki Sayama, 2013. "Spread of Academic Success in a High School Social Network," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(2), pages 1-4, February.
    2. Joël Mossong & Niel Hens & Mark Jit & Philippe Beutels & Kari Auranen & Rafael Mikolajczyk & Marco Massari & Stefania Salmaso & Gianpaolo Scalia Tomba & Jacco Wallinga & Janneke Heijne & Malgorzata Sa, 2008. "Social Contacts and Mixing Patterns Relevant to the Spread of Infectious Diseases," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(3), pages 1-1, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Christoph Stich & Emmanouil Tranos & Mirco Musolesi & Sune Lehmann, 2022. "The role of space, time and sociability in predicting social encounters," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 49(2), pages 619-636, February.
    2. Bjarke Frost Nielsen & Kim Sneppen & Lone Simonsen & Joachim Mathiesen, 2021. "Differences in social activity increase efficiency of contact tracing," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 94(10), pages 1-11, October.

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