Social Network Information Research Articles

Effect of social capital, social support and social network formation on the quality of life of American adults during COVID-19

This study aims to evaluate the effect of social capital (SC), social support (SS), and social network formation (SNF) on the quality of life of American adults during COVID-19. Using a probability sample of American adults aged 49+, 2370 respondents were selected from the National Social Life Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) dataset for analysis using an integrated partial least squares based on structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)-K-fold cross-validation approach. The analysis showed that social capital assessed using civic engagement, social cohesion, socioeconomic status (SES), social support, and social network formation were significantly and positively associated with American adults’ quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the results showed that using the PLS-SEM and K-fold cross-validation approach produced a medium predictive power of the overall model, confirming the importance of SC, SS, and SNF in predicting quality of life-outcomes. These findings suggest that efforts to promote the well-being of American adults, especially older adults, during the pandemic should focus on strengthening social capital, social support and social network formation.

Do friends get under the skin?: Everyday social encounters and cardiovascular functioning among Black and White adults in the United States.

Studies have shown that contact with friends enhances emotional health, but little is known about whether friends influence cardiovascular health. This study investigated (a) whether encounters with friends and the quality of these encounters were associated with cardiovascular reactivity in everyday life and (b) whether these associations varied by race. Participants were from the Stress and Well-being in Everyday Life Study which included Black (n = 76; aged = 34-76) and White (n = 87, aged = 34-91) adults residing in the United States. Participants provided background and social network information in a baseline interview, followed by a 4-day ecological momentary assessment in which they reported social encounters every 3 hr. Concurrently, participants wore an electrocardiogram monitor which collected physiological data in real time. To assess cardiovascular reactivity, heart rate variability (HRV) was analyzed. Multilevel models revealed that at times when individuals encountered friends (particularly positive encounters), they exhibited a momentary reduction in HRV (within-person association). But those with more friend encounters during the study period (particularly positive encounters) had higher HRV than those with fewer friend encounters during the study period (between-person association). These links were observed only among Black adults, but not among White adults. This study contributes to the conceptual model of social integration and enriches the literature on racial disparities in cardiovascular health from a social perspective. Findings highlight the implications of engagement with friends for momentary cardiovascular reactivity and suggest that friends may be more salient for Black adults' cardiovascular health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

A deep dive into the collaborative networks of Yacht Rock

This paper explores the collaborative networks of Yacht Rock, a genre of music that emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is currently experiencing a resurgence of popularity in the United States and beyond. In addition to using formal social network analysis to explore the development and transformation of Yacht Rock's collaborative musical network through time, we identify its most influential artists and musicians and highlight the most pivotal songs of the era – adding context with historical and archival approaches. The results indicate that a core group of studio musicians based in Los Angeles played an essential role in helping develop Yacht Rock. This reservoir of musical talent and the supporting "hard" infrastructure (e.g., recording studios, music labels) in Los Angeles helped bring Yacht Rock to the masses. However, much of this movement's success has roots in the "soft" infrastructure of the region (e.g., management, industry connections) and the network effects of bands like Toto and Steely Dan.

The Mechanism of International Entrepreneurship to Improve the Innovation Performance of Enterprises: Based on the Perspective of Social Network

In order to avoid the negative impact of external disadvantages and changing international business environments, enterprises have an urgent need to establish an effective social network, seek improvement in innovation performance, and stabilize their position in the international market. This paper conducts an exploratory single case study on the Midea Group, investigates the mechanism of international entrepreneurship to improve enterprise innovation performance based on the formation of multiple social networks, including government network, business network, and technological network, and discovers that in the process of international entrepreneurship, three-dimensional social networks contribute to resource conversion, research and development capability, market share, and other factors that boost corporate innovation performance. This research helps to understand the key elements in the process of international entrepreneurship, as well as how to build a close social network with stakeholders, rationally allocate and share various resources, and improve the international business environment and innovation performance of enterprises.

Gender-specific homophily on Instagram and implications on information spread

More and more social interactions happen online. On online social networks such as Instagram, millions of users share, like, and comment on photos and videos every day, interacting with other users world wide, at large scale and at a high rate. These networks do not only introduce new user experiences, but they also enable new insights into human behavior. Here, we use these new possibilities to study homophilic behavior—the tendency of individuals to bond with people similar to themselves. While homophilic behavior has been observed in many contexts, little is known about gender-specific differences and the extent of homophilic behavior of female and male users in online social networks. Based on a unique and extensive data set, covering over 800,000 (directed) Instagram interactions and a time span of three years, we shed light on differences between genders and uncover an intriguing asymmetry of homophily. In particular, we show that female users exhibit homophily to a larger extent than male users. The magnitude of this asymmetry depends on the type of interaction, as differences are more pronounced for ‘comment’-interactions than for ‘like’-interactions. Given these empirical observations, we further study the implications of such gender differences on the spread of information in social networks in a basic model. We find that on average, a piece of information that originates from a female group reaches significantly more female users than male users.

Earlier social information has a stronger influence on judgments

People’s decisions are often informed by the choices of others. Evidence accumulation models provide a mechanistic account of how such social information enters the choice process. Previous research taking this approach has suggested two fundamentally different cognitive mechanisms by which people incorporate social information. On the one hand, individuals may update their evidence level instantaneously when observing social information. On the other hand, they may gradually integrate social information over time. These accounts make different predictions on how the timing of social information impacts its influence. The former predicts that timing has no impact on social information uptake. The latter predicts that social information which arrives earlier has a stronger impact because its impact increases over time. We tested both predictions in two studies in which participants first observed a perceptual stimulus. They then entered a deliberation phase in which social information arrived either early or late before reporting their judgment. In Experiment 1, early social information remained visible until the end and was thus displayed for longer than late social information. In Experiment 2, which was preregistered, early and late social information were displayed for an equal duration. In both studies, early social information had a larger impact on individuals’ judgments. Further, an evidence accumulation analysis found that social information integration was best explained by both an immediate update of evidence and continuous integration over time. Because in social systems, timing plays a key role (e.g., propagation of information in social networks), our findings inform theories explaining the temporal evolution of social impact and the emergent social dynamics.

Effectiveness of a multidisciplinary treatment with youth-initiated mentoring for youths with mental health needs from multi-problem families: a quasi-experimental study

BackgroundChildren from multi-problem families have an increased risk for experiencing mental health problems. These families face problems in several domains that are often found to be chronic and intergenerational. Yet, the effects of mental health care for youths from multi-problem families are small at best, urging research on new treatment programs. The InConnection approach is an integrated care program to improve resilience of youths with mental health needs from multi-problem families by connecting professional expertise from multiple disciplines with the informal social network of the youth. Youths are asked to nominate a youth-initiated mentor (YIM) from the supportive adults in their network.MethodsThis quasi-experimental study compared the effectiveness of the InConnection approach to treatment as usual in a sample of 107 families (n = 66 intervention group, n = 41 control group) with n = 115 youths receiving treatment (cases). Youths (n = 102 reports, Mage = 15.59 years), parents (n = 85 reports) and case managers (n = 107 reports) responded to questionnaires four times over 15 months. Using these data, we measured youth resilience as the primary outcome, seven secondary outcomes, and three intermediate outcomes.ResultsLatent growth models showed only one significant change in outcomes over time across conditions, namely a decrease in case manager-reported child unsafety, and only two condition effects, which were both parent-reported. Parents in the InConnection group reported improvements over time in youth’s emotional and behavioral problems and their own positive parenting, whereas control parents reported no changes (ps ≤ 0.013).DiscussionThe treatment conditions were not effective in improving most of the youth and parental outcomes over time, except for child safety reported by the case manager. The InConnection approach only outperformed care as usual on two parent-reported outcomes. Future research should examine for whom and under what circumstances the InConnection approach works more convincingly.Trial registrationNetherlands Trial Register NL7565. Retrospectively registered on 05/03/2019.

The effects of CEO duality, board size, and informal social networks on sustainable innovation and firm performance.

Corporate governance affects the ownership and control of a firm. Conflicts between agents, managers and shareholders caused the crises of WorldCom, Enron, Tyco and Lehman Brothers. Therefore, the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) duality or board size on sustainable innovation and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is relevant for research and evaluation. This may reflect the CEO style that supports long-term business growth with limited resources to enhance accountability, fast decision-making, and minimise hindrances to governance, particularly in emerging markets like India. The finding will help SMEs in maintaining their long-term viability. The current study examines the impact of CEO duality, board size, and informal social networks on sustainable innovation, governance, and performance of Indian SMEs to enable management to assess the significance of factors that contribute to firms’ sustainable performance

An improved model of the diffusion of Bass innovations for predicting changes in public opinion during the implementation of a narrative in social networks

During the writing of the article, the complex dynamics of forecasting public opinion based on the implementation of narratives in social networks were analyzed using Bass's innovation diffusion model. Recognizing the important role of narratives in the formation of collective views provides a basis for using Bass's innovation diffusion model to predict and understand changes in public attitudes during the introduction and implementation of narratives in social networks. On the basis of the above, the research task was set: improvement of the Bass innovation diffusion model for predicting changes in public opinion in social networks, which will directly contribute to the development of quality content by determined forces and means to create favorable conditions during the use of troops (forces) and in peacetime due to entering the coefficient of coverage of the target audience. During the writing of the article, theoretical methods were applied, namely, the analysis of research and publications on the topic of development in relation to the use of diffusion of innovations, which describes the process of how innovations are accepted by the population, the analysis of statistical data of public opinion, comparisons to identify development trends in the consumption of information in social networks, as well as synthesis to achieve the goal of the study. The article presents a mathematical apparatus that incorporates the Bass diffusion model into network behavior for modeling the spread of narratives and predicting changes in public opinion. For the first time, an approach to simulation modeling of the introduction and implementation of a narrative in a social network based on the Bass diffusion model was substantiated, which made it possible to investigate the consumer behavior of social network users under the influence of information and interpersonal communication in a social network. Integrating concepts from Bass's model, such as innovation adoption and imitative behavior, the proposed model aims to predict the dynamics of public attitudes in response to the spread of narratives.

Research on the Application of Social Network Data Mining Technology in Crime Analysis and Prevention

Abstract Social network data mining (SNDM) technology shows great application potential in crime analysis and prevention. This study focuses on revealing the characteristics, laws, and trends of criminal behavior through an in-depth analysis of criminal information in social networks. Using data mining techniques such as association rule mining, cluster analysis, and community discovery, the key information and organizational structure of criminal networks are successfully mined, which provides a powerful means of investigation and prevention for public security departments. It is found that important criminal clues are hidden in the user communication data in social networks, and the communication mode and hidden information between criminals can be revealed through association rule mining technology. Cluster analysis helps to identify gangs and hot spots with similar criminal behaviors, which provides important clues for further investigation. In addition, community discovery technology further reveals the internal structure and membership relationship of criminal gangs, which is helpful in deeply understanding the operation mode of criminal organizations and the spread path of criminal acts. Based on historical data and mining results, this study also constructs a crime trend prediction model, which provides timely early warning information for public security departments and helps to take measures to prevent and crack down on criminal acts in advance. On the whole, this study not only enriches the application theory of SNDM technology in the field of crime analysis but also provides new ideas and tools for actual crime investigation and prevention.

Research on Fine-Grained Recognition Method for Sensitive Information in Social Networks Based on CLIP

Research on Fine-Grained Recognition Method for Sensitive Information in Social Networks Based on CLIP

Social Networking's Information Empowerment and Conflict Resolution

Social Networking's Information Empowerment and Conflict Resolution

The Social Function of Cheerleading: Formation and Expansion of Social Networks among College Students

The Social Function of Cheerleading: Formation and Expansion of Social Networks among College Students

Соціально-педагогічна робота з формування досвіду соціально безпечної поведінки підлітків у процесі online-соціалізації

This article characterizes the problem of forming the experience of socially safe behaviour of teenagers in the process of online socialization; characteristics of the process of socialization of the younger generation (learning, identification, education, protection, imitation, education, adaptation) and features of the social situation of adolescent development are given. The principle of forming the experience of socially safe behaviour of adolescents is revealed: the correspondence of the components of socially safe behaviour of an individual (value-motivational, cognitive, operational-active, regulatory, reflective) to socio-pedagogically significant elements of social networks (information generation, collective creation of communication exchange, etc.) in internet spaces. Blocks of socio-pedagogical work on forming the experience of socially safe behaviour of adolescents in the process of online socialization (targeted, theoretical, technological, effective) are defined, the content of which is divided into three stages: familiarization (confessional and visual training; search, storage, exchange of information about social dangerous facts; organization of mutual training); training (resolving specific socially dangerous situations, collective creation and editing of texts and hypertexts); practical (independent use of learned strategies of socially safe behaviour in interaction with the social environment in real life conditions through inclusion in real socially significant web projects).

“Get High With a Conscience”: Information and Communication Technologies and Sexualized Drug Use Among Gay Men in Mexico

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has gained relevance since they are a tool for socialization around substance use and sex through the formation of social networks of gay men (GM). This study investigated how and why substance use is related to the use of ICT in GM. Moreover, what social and cultural dynamics characterize the use of ICTs concerning sexualized drug use in Mexican GM? In May 2022, focus groups were held in which 19 GM from Mexico participated. Different types of ICTs used by GM were identified as playing a role in online interactions around substance use and chemsex. It was found that specific platforms, such as mobile geolocation applications, favored access to sexual practices and drugs. In addition, online sexual subcultures destigmatized substance use and non‐normative sexual practices and reinforced social ties, offering caring information about sexualized drug use practices among GM. The findings contribute to understanding the health of GM from a contemporary digital context.

ВІДЧУТТЯ МІСЦЯ ЯК ЧИННИК СТІЙКОСТІ ГРОМАДИ МІСТА (ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ НА ПРИКЛАДІ МІСТА СЛАВУТИЧ, УКРАЇНА)

The importance of the sense of place issue lies in its ability to enhance the community's resilience in addressing current situational and strategic tasks related to the cohesion of residents in the face of natural, social, or military challenges. To achieve a sense of place on a collective level, it is necessary to appeal to the unique and important characteristics of a place for its residents. This includes an authentic spirit and character of place that can influence the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dimensions of the relationship between people and places. The research goal is to investigate the influence of a sense of place on the development of a cohesive and resilient community, using the city of Slavutych as an example. Despite facing various challenges, the city has consistently demonstrated a strong sense of unity and local patriotism based on past experiences. The community of Slavutych experienced the most recent challenge during the blockade and temporary occupation in March 2022, when the city was able to drive out the russian invaders as a result of a peaceful rally, self-organization of residents, and silent resistance by Chornobyl nuclear power plant workers. This reactive participation led to an active rethinking of local meanings and contexts of sense of place. Using the example of Slavutych city, we demonstrate how two groups of factors of a sense of place (physical features and cognitive and perceptual factors) determine the infrastructural, economic, ecological, institutional, social and competence dimensions of community resilience. Based on the results of a long-term study of the city using methods of observation, surveys, in-depth interviews, and expert analysis, the article emphasizes that community cohesion manifests itself differently in peacetime and during wartime challenges. However, in both cases, it is based on a strong sense of place, solidarity, and the establishment of informal social networks. Clearly understanding the uniqueness and exclusivity of Slavutych as an ideal satellite city of a nuclear power plant, the youngest and most comfortable city in Ukraine, we believe that community cohesion during the war is a typical phenomenon of national scale for all Ukrainian communities.

Online Public Opinion Analysis Model Based on Long Short-term Memory Network and Expectation Maximization

Abstract With the rapid dissemination of online public opinion, its emotions are easily transmitted to the general public. It possesses a certain level of social mobilization capacity and can impact the stability of society. To characterize the sentiment trend of social network information and determine its influence, we have proposed a method based on long short-term memory (LSTM) networks and expectation maximization(EM). This model employs a long short-term memory network for data training, obtaining the number of positive public opinions through word-to-word matching. Based on the expectation-maximization method and Jensen’s inequality, the lower bound of the maximum likelihood function is iteratively computed, ultimately achieving convergence of this likelihood function. This convergence value is then used for sentiment analysis. Our study utilizes 10,000 valid pieces of data from the Sina microblog as experimental data. By comparing our model with the K-MEANS model and the EM model, the results indicate significant improvements in the accuracy and convergence of our model. Our research discovers that the influence of public opinion increases as the compensation value for adoption rises, and the probability of public opinion generation gradually increases with the length of user registration years, eventually slowing down.

Intelligent recommendation algorithm for social networks based on improving a generalized regression neural network

<p>In recent years, the vigorous development of the Internet has led to the exponential growth of network information. The recommendation system can analyze the potential preferences of users according to their historical behavior data and provide personalized recommendations for users. In this study, the social network model was used for modeling, and the recommendation model was improved based on variational modal decomposition and the whale optimization algorithm. The generalized regression neural network structure and joint probability density function were used for sequencing and optimization, and then the genetic bat population optimization algorithm was used to solve the proposed algorithm. An intelligent recommendation algorithm for social networks based on improved generalized regression neural networks (RA-GNN) was proposed. In this study, three kinds of social network data sets obtained by real crawlers were used to solve the proposed RA-GNN algorithm in the real social network data environment. The experimental results showed that the RA-GNN algorithm proposed in this paper could implement efficient and accurate recommendations for social network information.</p>

Purpose and specifics of the constitutional and legal responsibility of the participants in the election process

The article is devoted to the study of the purpose and specifics of the constitutional and legal responsibility of the participants of the election process.
 It has been established that currently there is insufficient research on the systematic analysis of constitutional and legal responsibility. Ukrainian legislation regulates various types of legal liability, such as civil, criminal, and administrative, but it is little improved with regard to constitutional and legal liability. The term “constitutional and legal responsibility” is not used in the Constitution of Ukraine, although there are separate provisions related to this form of responsibility. This limits the possibility of using constitutional and legal responsibility to perform various tasks provided for by the constitutional law of Ukraine.
 It was determined that constitutional and legal responsibility has a political nature and can arise even in the absence of violations of the law. In this context, constitutional responsibility is associated with actions that are viewed from a political point of view as negative. An example of such responsibility is the collective responsibility of the government before the parliament, which is provided for in Article 87 of the Constitution of Ukraine. Although this form of responsibility has a political aspect, it cannot be considered full-fledged political responsibility, since political responsibility and legal responsibility are different concepts. One of the differences of legal responsibility is that it is tied to the violation of legal norms, and this involves the application of appropriate coercive measures or sanctions, which are established by law.
 It is emphasized that it is important to create effective regulation of this issue, to ensure a balance between freedom of speech and responsibility for spreading false information. The law should require mandatory fact-checking before publishing information in mass media or social networks during election campaigns.
 Arguably, the development and implementation of electronic platforms for engaging citizens in the electoral process can simplify and improve their participation, including electronic voting, online consultations and other interactive means of communication with citizens.

On the study of factors of fake news perception by mass audience (case study of student youth)

The article deals with the problem of perception of false (fake) information by mass audience, especially by students. Fake information today is similar to viruses that instantly "infect" the mass of recipients. A separate category of fake information is fake news, the worst consequence of which is real actions of people based on unreliable information that does not correspond to the facts of objective reality. Students are an active social group and the main consumers of information of social networks where fakes are mainly circulated. Fake news is a product of the post-truth era, characterized by the state of society when the truth becomes those facts and situations that the public believes in. The paper analyses the socio-psychological factors that influence the perception of fake information by student youth. Authors highlights the following socio-psychological factors: social attitudes, cognitive distortions, trust issues and emotional intelligence. The structure of social attitudes is considered and the conclusion is made on the basis of cognitive theories that fake news influencing the affective component of social attitudes changes these attitudes. Cognitive distortions such as the Dunning-Kruger effect, affect heuristics, and confirmation bias play a significant role in this process. The authors conclude that the low level of trust actualizes the problem of trust fake news in Russian society. Authers found that students believe false information more than true information, they are unable to distinguish deception. They use the intuition when try to understand if the information is fake. Emotional intelligence does not directly influence competence in recognizing fake news but influences criticality in assessing one's ability to recognize it. Further study of the issue should consider IQ and EQ indicators for developing scientific and practical recommendations to reduce trust in fake news.