Social Circles: A Simple Structure for Agent-Based Social Network Models

Authored by Nigel Gilbert, Lynne Hamill

Date Published: 2009-03

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Model Documentation: Other Narrative

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

None of the standard network models fit well with sociological observations of real social networks. This paper presents a simple structure for use in agent-based models of large social networks. Taking the idea of social circles, it incorporates key aspects of large social networks such as low density, high clustering and assortativity of degree of connectivity. The model is very flexible and can be used to create a wide variety of artificial social worlds.

Tags

Agent-based models Social networks Personal Networks