Networks

L1: an introduction to networks and communities

Michele Tumminello,
Department of Economics, Business and Statistics
University of Palermo

Data Science and Big Data Analytics

 Networks or Graphs?
Seven Bridges of Königsberg (Euler 1735):

A D

C
Is there a walk through the city
that would cross each bridge
once and only once? A D

NO
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 Networks or Graphs?
The Zachary’s Karate Club (Zachary 1977):
At some point, a conflict arose
between the club’s administrator
(vertex 1) and one of the teachers
(vertex 33), which led to the split
of the club in two smaller clubs,
with some members staying with
the administrator and the others
following the instructor.

Is there a “natural” way to break

the network in two?

YES

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 It’s the question that really matters!

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 Types of networks

Newman (2003)
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 Networks modeling Social Systems are typically
Complex Networks

What does it mean?

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 Between Regular and Random Networks

Maybe complicated… but still NOT COMPLEX

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 Sparse Networks

The probability that any node on the network will be very highly
connected to many others is VERY LOW

The probability that a very large number of nodes will be connected

very loosely or not at all is VERY HIGH

Complex networks are typically sparse networks

Barabasi and Albert (1999)

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 Vertex degree
K=1 K=2 K=3

The vertex degree “K” is the number

of edges incident to the vertex

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 Normal and power-law distribution

Benkler (2006): 244

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 The function P(X>x)
P(X>x) is the probability to observe a value
of X that is larger than x.

• Example: If x=1 link then P(X>1) is the

probability that a site has more than 1 link
pointing to it

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 Normal and power-law distribution
Linear Plot Log-Linear Plot

Normal distribution: Power-law distribution:

Very small # of vertices – few links Very large # of vertices – few links

Very small # of vertices – large # of links Small # of vertices – very large # of links

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 Complex Networks are scale free

A power-law distribution of the vertex degree is

often seen as a mark of complex networks…

Why?

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 Star Alliance Footprint

Pittsburgh Los Angeles Tokyo Okinawa

Pittsburgh New York Amsterdam

Pittsburgh Detroit Buffalo

Would that be possible with a Normal distribution of the degree?

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 Communities
Zachary’s
Karate club

Lusseau’s
network of
bottlenose
dolphins
Scientific
collaborations
at SFI

S. Fortunato, Physics Reports 486 (2010) 75–174

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 Concepts to take home
Complex networks
• Are (typically) sparse
• Are scale free
• Display emergent structures: communities

• Nodes are (typically) interdependent

• Are robust, but cascading phenomena are
possible
• Are evolving systems

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 Concepts to take home
Complex networks
• Are (typically) sparse
• Are scale free
• Display emergent structures: communities

• Nodes are (typically) interdependent

• Are robust, but cascading phenomena are
possible
• Are evolving systems

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 Communities

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 Learning outcomes

• To learn about one of the fundamental mechanisms

driving the evolution of social networks: the triadic closure

• To understand how the mechanism of triadic closure relates

to the formation of communities in social networks

• To learn about the basic quantities used to describe the

degree to which nodes in a network tend to cluster together

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 Levels of description of networks

Macroscopic level: degree distribution, total clustering coefficient, etc.

Microscopic level: degree, centrality of individual nodes, etc.

Mesoscopic level: communities

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 People tend to aggregate…

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 …selectively

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 WARNING

A community is NOT necessarily identified by a

single connected component of the network

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 Map of science based on citation patterns

M. Rosvall and C.T. Bergstrom, PNAS 105 (4), 1118-1123 (2008)

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 An intuitive definition of community

In many real networks, nodes appear to group in sub-networks in which the

density of internal links is larger than the connections with the rest of vertices
in the network.

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 An intuitive definition of community

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 An intuitive definition of community

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 What happens with directed links?

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 What happens with directed links?

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The definition of “community” might depend on

• the properties of the network (weighted, directed, etc.)

• the “processes” running on it (spread of information, etc.)

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Communities naturally appear in social
networks

How do they form?

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 The building block of a community

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 Triadic Closure
Consider a network of friendship:

If two people have a friend in common, then there

is an increased likelihood that they will become
friends themselves at some point in the future.

Triple Triangle

A. Rapoport, Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 15(4), 523-533 (1953)

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 Reasons for Triadic Closure

•Opportunity: If vertices B and C have a common friend A then the probability

that they meet (and potentially become friends) increases.

•Trusting: the fact that node B and C have a common friend A is a basis for trusting
each other.

•Incentive: If node A is friends with B and C, then it is a source of latent stress

for A if B and C are not friends with each other. This is an incentive for A to
bring B and C together.

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 The building block of a community

Triadic closure favors

the formation of triangles
in an evolving network

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 Clustering coefficient of a vertex (local)

Theoretical definition: The clustering coefficient of a vertex A is the probability

that two randomly selected friends (first neighbors) of A are friends with each other.

Operative definition: The clustering coefficient of a vertex A is the fraction of pairs

of A’s first neighbors that are linked to each other.

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 Clustering coefficient of a vertex (local)

Operative definition: The clustering coefficient of a vertex A is the fraction of pairs

of A’s first neighbors that are linked to each other.

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 Clustering coefficient of a vertex (local)

# of pairs A’s friends that are linked to each other = number of triangles involving A=2
(CD, BC) (ABC, ACD)

Operative definition: The clustering coefficient of a vertex A is the fraction of pairs

of A’s first neighbors that are linked to each other.

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 Clustering coefficient of a vertex (local)

# of pairs of A’s friends = number of triples rooting in A = 6

(BC,BD,BE,CD,CE,DE) (ACD, ABC,ABD,ABE,ACE,ADE)

Operative definition: The clustering coefficient of a vertex A is the fraction of pairs

of A’s first neighbors that are linked to each other.

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 Question

Suppose that a vertex A, with degree(A)>1, fully satisfies the triadic closure property.

What is the clustering coefficient of A?

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 Total Clustering coefficient (global)
Triple Triangle

A triangle
contains
3 triples

3 ⇥ total number of triangles

C=
total number triples

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 Question
What is the total clustering coefficient of this network?

3 ⇥ total number of triangles

C=
total number triples

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 How is it possible to detect
communities in complex networks?

MODULARITY OPTIMIZATION

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