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

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  • Gaudeul, Alexia
  • Giannetti, Caterina

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Gaudeul, Alexia & Giannetti, Caterina, 2011. "The role of reciprocation in social network formation, with an application to blogging," MPRA Paper 34094, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:34094
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    Cited by:

    1. Benedetto Lepori & Isidro F. Aguillo & Marco Seeber, 2014. "Size of web domains and interlinking behavior of higher education institutions in Europe," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 100(2), pages 497-518, August.
    2. Tingting Song & Qian Tang & Jinghua Huang, 2019. "Triadic Closure, Homophily, and Reciprocation: An Empirical Investigation of Social Ties Between Content Providers," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 912-926, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Blogs; Friendship; LiveJournal; Reciprocation; Social Capital; Social Networks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation

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