Com_Tracker: a two-phases framework for detecting and tracking community evolution in dynamic social networks

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to introduce a novel modularity-based framework, Com_Tracker, designed to detect and track community structures in dynamic social networks without recomputing them from scratch at each snapshot. Despite extensive research in this area, existing approaches either require repetitive computations or fail to capture key community behavioral events, both of which limit the ability to generate timely and actionable insights. Efficiently tracking community structures is crucial for real-time decision-making in rapidly evolving networks, while capturing behavioral events is necessary for understanding deeper community dynamics. This study addresses these limitations by proposing a more efficient and adaptive solution. It aims to answer the following questions: How can we efficiently track community structures without recomputation? How can we detect significant community events over time?Design/methodology/approachCom_Tracker models dynamic social networks as a sequence of snapshots. First, it detects the community structure of the initial snapshot using a static community detection algorithm. Then, for each subsequent time step, Com_Tracker updates the community structure based on the previous snapshot, allowing it to track communities and detect their changes over time. The locus-based adjacency encoding scheme is adopted, and Pearson’s correlation guides the construction of neighboring solutions.FindingsExperiments conducted on various networks demonstrate that Com_Tracker effectively detects community structures and tracks their evolution in dynamic social networks. The results highlight its potential for real-time tracking and provide promising performance outcomes.Practical implicationsCom_Tracker offers valuable insights into community evolution, helping practitioners across fields such as resource management, public security, marketing and public health. By understanding how communities evolve, decision-makers can better allocate resources, enhance targeted strategies and predict future community behaviors, improving overall responsiveness to changes in network dynamics.Originality/valueCom_Tracker addresses critical gaps in existing research by combining the strengths of modularity maximization with efficient tracking of community changes. Unlike previous methods that either recompute structures or fail to capture behavioral events, Com_Tracker provides an incremental, adaptive framework capable of detecting both community evolution and behavioral changes, enhancing real-world applicability in dynamic environments.