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Metrics for Measuring Attributes of Virtual Semantic Social Network Members

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Imran Mir, 2Amjad Farooq, 2Amna Khan and 2Rizwan Mir

Abstract Semantic Social Networks provide virtual semantic community to people for maintaining relations and interactions. It bridges the gap which has been created by our fast paced life where we dont find time to visit our friends and family frequently. Virtual Semantic Social Networks (VSSN) keep people close with their loved ones while updating them with latest stories of the members of their social circles. Members of these networks can be facilitated with friendship, dating, chatting, emailing, stuff sharing and gaming futures. Each member of the network adhere some attributes in terms of likings, disliking and interests. These attributes of VSSN members can be measured using metrics. Moreover metrics can help in figuring out the need of new features in a particular domain and they can also guide in eliminating the existing rustic features from network. In this paper we propose mathematical metrics for measuring some attributes of a VSSN members. Index Terms Virtual Semantic Social Network, VSSN, Metrics

1 INTRODUCTION
oday people are living life at a fast pace. They have luxuries and comforts but dont have enough time to maintain relations. In such environment Semantic Social Network bridges this gap by providing a virtual social community in which people can remain in touch with their friends and family in an easy way. It keeps people close with their loved ones while providing a platform for sharing, chatting, emailing, gaming and dating. In such an environment where different people have different likings, disliking and interests there must be some ways to measure them. Metrics can be used to measure such social attributes of members of semantic social networks in an accurate, easy and efficient way. Figuring out the attributes of the members of semantic social network can lead us towards better, efficient, attracted and progressive virtual semantic community. Measurement is not only important because it tells us about most liked and attracted features but it also helps in finding the modules which are no longer be used the members of virtual community. Measurement also leaves statistical facts which can be used for the betterment of society by taking proactive decisions. Virtual semantic social networks can grow and shrink on their own [7], [8]. The only thing that is required is proper and accurate statistical extracts about the virtual semantic networks and their members. These extracts can be collected easily by using metrics methodology. The more we have metrics, the better we understand the virtual seman

tic social networks, their behavior, growth and popularity. Moreover behaviors and nature of the members of social networks can also be measured the same way. Each member of VSSN has number of people in his social circle. These people are connected to one another through different relations. These relations may include friendship, father, mother, sister, daughter etc. A person does not communicate equally with all people in his social circle. He always possesses different priorities towards different people depending upon their nature, personality, interests and relation. So in such an environment where each member has his own priorities towards others there must be some way to find list of people, a person is mostly interested. To bridge this gap we have proposed a metric to find best buddies of a member. This metric uses weighted ratio of associated activities and weighted ratio of time for finding best buddies of a member. This metric can also be used for finding the nature of a person, in a long run. The second metric we are proposing in this paper is about finding the social factor of a persons personality. It calculates a persons degree of being social. This metric can be used by organizations in order to find social factor of fresh employees which can help in deciding whether they can fit in their work environment or not. We can measure following things by using metrics for virtual semantic social networks: We can measure social attributes of members We can measure behavioral attributes of members We can measure attributes of social network itself We can measure the need for new features We can measure degree of use of an existing feature We can measure expiry of existing features

Imran Mir: Computer Science and Engineering Department, University of Engineering & Technology Lahore. Amjad Farooq: Computer Science and Engineering Department, Univer- sity of Engineering & Technology Lahore. Amna Khan: Computer Science and Engineering Department, University of Engineering & Technology Lahore.
Rizwan Mir: System Engineering Department, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Mirpur.

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2 RELATED WORK
Virtual semantic social networks have made us able to query social networks semantically. Ontologies contain network information and information about the members of the network. Ontologies become big and complex depending upon the depth of information being holded by the network. Attributes of the members of virtual semantic social network can be figured out by using metrics. In our last paper [1] we proposed metric for calculating active factor of a member of VSSN: Mathematically,

PROPOSED TECHNIQUE

Proposed section contains metrics for SSN members. These metrics can find the best buddy of a member in a social circle and the social factor he owns. Following is the list of proposed metrics: Best Buddy Finding Metric (BBF Metric) Social Factor Calculation Metric (SFC Metric)

3.1 Best Buddy Finding Metric This metric can be used for finding best buddy of a member of a Semantic Social Network. It uses time factor and activity factor associated with friends of a member. Greater the above factors greater is the chance of being selected as best buddy.
Advantages: A person can be updated with the latest news about his best buddies in social circle. This metric can also help in finding (FOF) Friend of a Friend in social circle. It can help in finding the nature of people a person likes, around him. Mathematically,

Above statement tells us that greater the jobs performed greater is the activity factor of the member and using this metric we can calculate activeness of a member in VSSN. These tasks may include followings. We also proposed [1] a metric for calculating the interest of a member of VSSN. Mathematically,

Above metric could be used for finding interest of member of VSSN. It depends upon two factors: associated activities and time-spent. Both the factors have been given equal weightage. Using above mentioned equation we can find favorite activities of members of VSSN. It also helps in figuring out the activities which are popular and the ones which have gone rustic. Ontologies contain Semantic Information and sometimes axioms are hired to represent extra information [3] [4]. Link between two concepts is also referred to semantic association. [5][6]. Robert also provided some metrics for measuring attributes of social networks. According to Robert density can be calculated using below metric [2]:

Formula states that Best Buddy Factor is equal to sum of weighted ratio of associated activities and weighted ratio of time spent. Activity metric can be used to find the activities of a person towards his friends [1]. Steps for finding Best Buddy: Following are the steps for finding best buddy of a member of semantic social network List down all activities of a member Find associated activities to each friend in social circle Find weighted ratio of associated activities Find time spent for performing activities associated with each friend Find weighted ratio of time spent for each friend Finally calculate best buddy factor by having the sum of weighted ratio of time and weighted ratio of activities for each friend. The Person with maximum BBF value is said to be the best buddy.

Above equation clearly explains the density of the semantic social network. Greater the edges in ontology, the more complex and dense it becomes.

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Its a fast and reliable way of finding best buddies of members of semantic social network. Below diagram shows the best buddy selection process graphically:

Mathematically,

(A1, T1) F1: Activity A1 performed by a member for time T1 associated with Friend F1 (A2, T2) F2: Activity A2 performed by a member for time T2 associated with Friend F2 Best buddy finding metric tells us that a member spends most of the time in performing activities associated with which friend in his social circle. This metric can help people in studying nature of different people and making friendship with them if they fall in their requirements. It can also be used by the administrators of Semantic Social Networks for suggesting friends having common nature.

In first step, people of a SSN are to be divided into categories (levels) with respect to number of friends as shown in figure. Above mentioned formulas will be applied to each level separately. If a person lies in third level (means he has 60 to 80 friends in his social circle) then facts of that level will be used to calculate social factor of his personality. Weighted Ratio of Interactions It provides us weighted ratio of interactions of a particular person Weighted Ratio of Friends It provides us weighted ratio of friends of a particular person falling in a particular level. Advantages: Organizations have always been trying to hunt people who can fit best in their work environments. A friendly person with good skill level can be the ideal employee for a company. Sometimes Companies fire skilled people only because they dont fit in their cultural environment. To avoid such firings companies can use social factor calculation metric to find the social attribute of a persons personality. Companies can also use best buddy find metric to find the level of people their employee is interested in. Moreover companies can use interest factor calculation metric to find the interests of their employee. Steps for finding Social Factor List down all the interactions of a person Find weighted ratio of Interaction Find the level depending upon the number of friends Find weighted ratio of fiends for a particular level Calculate Social Factor by have the sum of weighted ratio of interaction and weighted ratio of friends.

3.2 Social Factor Calculation Metric Social Factor Calculation metric can be used to measure the social factor of a members personality of semantic social network. In a society, different people have different number of friends in their social circle and they use to interact with them. The person who meets number of people is said to be social. This metric will help in identifying people with respect to the social factor of their personality. This metric introduces the degree of being social as the weighted ratio of number of interactions with different people to the weighted ratio of number of friends in his social circle.
In other wards social factor of ones personality depends on number of friends in social circle and number of interactions with them. The social factor of personality is the relative concept with respect to number of friends. The relative concept of measuring social factor is introduced in order to prevent the impact of the persons with large number of friends on remaining with relatively less friends.
Social Factor 20 % Social Factor 67 % Social Factor 93 %

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CASE STUDIES

Following are the case studies against the metrics proposed in above section. Developed application also verified the results.

Weighted Ratio of Associated Activities (Edward) Putting values in equation (1) we get Weighted ratio of associated activities = 35/144 * 0.5 Weighted ratio of associated activities = 0.12152 Weighted Ratio of Time (Edward) Putting values in equation (2) we get Weighted ratio of time = 12/104 * 0.5 Weighted ratio of time = 0.057692 Best buddy factor (Edward) Putting values in equation (3) BBF (Edward) = (0.12152 + 0.057692) * 100 BBF (Edward) = 17.92 Best buddy factor for Edward is 17.92

4.1 Best Buddy Finding Metric Best buddy finding metric can help in identifying the best buddy of a member of Semantic Social Network. It uses the time factor and activity factor associated with people to find the best buddy. Greater the above factors greater is the probability of being selected as best buddy. Following table shows the activites of different people in a semantic social network.
Activity Table of Imran

Figure 2: Activity Table of Imran (SSN Member) Above table shows activities of Imran associated with different people in terms of time spent and number of times he performed a particular task. Time Spent column tells about the time being spent in terms of minutes where as column # of times tells us about the times a particular task was performed. These two factors help us in finding best buddy of a member of SSN. Name Edward John Philips Newton Kate Jason Associated Activities 35 71 11 9 2 16 Time Spent 12 (mins) 73 (mins) 4 (mins) 7 (mins) 3 (mins) 5 (mins) Best Buddy Factor of John (Calculation) From equation (3) we know that best buddy factor is equal to sum of weighted ratio of associated activates and weighted ratio of time spent. Weighted Ratio of Associated Activities (John) Putting values in equation (1) we get Weighted ratio of associated activities = 71/144 * 0.5 Weighted ratio of associated activities = 0.24652 Weighted Ratio of Time (John) Putting values in equation (2) we get Weighted ratio of time = 73/104 * 0.5 Weighted ratio of time = 0.35096 Best buddy factor (John) Putting values in equation (3) Best Buddy Factor = (0.24652 + 0.35096) * 100 Best Buddy Factor = 59.748 Best buddy factor for Edward is 59.748 Similarly using equation (3) if we can calculate best buddy factor of Philips, Newton, Kate and Jason. John has the highest best buddy factor among other friends of Imran so we can conclude that John is the best buddy of Imran in his social circle. Using the results of best buddy equation we can make a list of people Imran is interested in, priority-wise. The person with maximum best buddy factor will be at top. This list can be used in order to update Imran about the latest news related to his friends. Moreover this list can also help in identifying category of people Imran is interested in.

Above table shows the totals of associated activities. If we talk about Edward then we will say that in a particular time interval Imran performed 35 activities which were associated with Edward and Imran spent 12 mins in performing those activities. These stats will be used to figure out best buddy of Imran in his social circle. Best Buddy Factor of Edward (Calculation) From equation (3) we know that best buddy factor is equal to sum of 1weighted ratio of associated activities and 2weighted ratio of time spent.

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4.2 Social Factor Calculation Metric Social factor calculation metric can help in calculating the social nature of a person. It uses weighted ratios of friends and weighted ratios of interactions. From equation (6) we can say that social factor is equal to 1sum of weighted ratios of integrations and 2weighted ratio of friends.
Activity Table

Weighted Ratio of Interactions (Edward) Putting values in equation (4) we get Weighted ratio of Interactions = 1/4 *0.5 Weighted ratio of Interactions = 0.125 Weighted Ratio of Friends As we know Edward has 4 friends so he falls in first category having friends between 0-20.

Figure 2: Activity Table (SSN Members) Above table shows activities of members of Semantic Social Network. These activities will help in identifying the social factors of SSN members. Name Edward John Philips Newton Kate Jason Total Total Friends 4 29 80 49 85 62 Putting values in equation (4) we get Weighted ratio of friends = 4/20 * 0.5 Weighted ratio of friends = 0.1000 Social Factor (Edward) Putting values in equation (5) Social factor (Edward) = (0.125 + 0.1000) * 100 Social factor (Edward) = 22.5 Social factor for Edward is 22.5 Social Factor of Philips (Calculation) From equation (6) we know that Social factor is equal to sum of 1weighted ratio of interactions and 2weighted ratio of friends. Weighted Ratio of Interactions (Philips) Putting values in equation (4) we get Weighted ratio of Interactions = 79/80 *0.5 Weighted ratio of Interactions = 0.4937 Weighted Ratio of Friends As we know Philips has 80 friends so he falls in Third category having friends between 60 - 80. Putting values in equation (5) we get Weighted ratio of friends = 80/80 * 0.5 Weighted ratio of friends = 0.5 Social Factor (Philips) Putting values in equation (6) Social factor (Philips) = (0.4937 + 0.5) * 100 Social factor (Philips) = 99.37 Social factor for Philips is 99.37 Social Factor is proportional to friendliness. A person with greater social factor is supposed to be friendlier as compared to the ones who have low social factors.

Total interacted people 1 3 79 7 3 5

Above table shows total friends and total interacted people. As it is clear from name the column Total Friends will tell us about the total friends of a SSN member. The second column Total Interacted People tells us about the number of people a person interacted within his social circle in a particular time. People have been divided into categories in order to prevent the impact of persons with hundreds of friends on ones with fewer friends. While calculating weighted ratio of friends if a person has 35 friends then he will fall in second category and facts of that category will be used for him. Social Factor of Edward (Calculation) From equation (6) we know that Social factor is equal to sum of 1weighted ratio of interactions and 2weighted ratio of friends.

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CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

Proposed metrics not only provide the base line but also help in proposing new and complex metrics on abstract

level. These metrics help in measuring social factor and best buddy factor which are associated with the members of virtual semantic social networks. Education Commission of Pakistan, and the University of

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This research work has been supported by the Higher Engineering and Technology, Lahore. ests includes Semantic Web Applications, Software Engineering andHuman Computer Interaction. Dr. Amjad Farooq is currently doing job as Professor in University of Engineering and Technology Lahore. His inter-ests include Computer Programming, Semantic Web and Databases Rizwan Mir is a graduate of University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Currently he is doing job as a Software Engineer in PowerSoft19. His major interests include Computer Pro-gramming, Software Engineering, and Databases.

AUTHORS
Imran Mir is a student of MS in department of Computer Science and Engineering, UET, Lahore. He is currently doing job in Systems Limited (Software House) as a Senior Software Developer. His major interests include Computer Pro-gramming, Software Engineering, Semantic Web and Intelligent Information Retrieval Systems. Amna Khan is currently doing Masters in Computer Sciences from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. She is currently employed as a Lecturer in Department of Computer Sciences, Sharif College of Engi-neering and Technology. Current Research Inter-

REFERENCES
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