network flow model social network analysis definition

In social, biological, communication, and transportation networks, among others, it is important to know the relative structural prominence of nodes to identify the key elements in the network (for example, see Borgatti, 2005, Sohn and Kim, 2010, Erath et al., 2009, Salman and Saives, 2005, Gómez et al., 2003, Newman, 2005, Gómez et al., 2009, Estrada, 2006). This concept measures the importance of a node’s position in a network. One of the major concerns of network analysis is the definition of the concept of centrality. We shall show how the classical measures can be enhanced when the problem is modeled as a bi-criteria network flow optimization problem. A new closeness centrality measure is defined to deal not only with the maximum flow between every ordered pair of nodes, but also with the cost associated with communications. In this paper we extend the betweenness centrality measure (or concept) to take into account explicitly several dimensions (criteria). Such measures are single dimensional and, in general, they amalgamate several heterogeneous dimensions into a single one, which is not suitable for dealing with most real-world problems. (1991) were the first authors to relate centrality measures to network flow optimization problems in terms of betweenness, closeness, and the influence of one node over another one.

In the particular case of social networks, the flow represents the way in which information passes through the network nodes.

Centrality measures play an important role in the field of network analysis.

Network flow model social network analysis definition