To shed more light on the previous post, as to how graph theory can help inform better business decisions, more graph theory concepts that could relate to the Skillted network are elaborated upon.

 

Triadic Closure

Three nodes in a social network could exhibit the property known as Triadic closure. Triadic closure occurs when two of the three nodes happen to have strong ties with the third node. Hence for users Alice, Bob and Carol, a strong relationship exists between Alice and Bob and also between Alice and Carol. This follows that a weak tie exists between Bob and Carol.

In Skillted, if user Alice had bartered skill successfully with user Bob and user Carol subsequently, (and Bob happened to have a skill that Carol requires) user Bob and user Carol would eventually barter skill successfully in the future. This could occur by word of mouth by Alice to either Bob and Carol about the skill either parties required and since Alice has worked with both parties in the past, it would provide a basis for them to trust each other.

 

Scale-free network

Scale free networks are networks in which the degree distribution among nodes follow the power-law distribution. The Skillted network could be a scale free network if there exists a substantial number of highly skilled users with successful reviews. These users would tend to have other users in the network interact with them due to the good reputation they have built over time.

 

Structural Holes and Social Capital

Users with rare desirable skills or/and many good reviews could form Structural Holes within the network. These sort of users have established social capital hence an advantage in the network.

 

Tie Strengths within the Skillted Network

Ties strengths could be strong, weak or absent. Two users could have strong ties between them if they have successfully bartered skills before. Weak ties between two users, if they have transacted with another mutual user as explained in Triadic Closure above. A tie is non-existent between two users if their interaction is intelligible.

 

Although graph theory and some of its concepts could be rigorous and mostly considered an academic chore, applying these concepts and interpreting the social network to be formed by users of Skillted brings about some enlightenment and interesting nuances that would help make better design and business decisions while the app is being developed.

 

References

1 Peter V. Madsen, Karen E. Campbell; Measuring Tie Strength – Social Forces, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Dec., 1984), pp. 482-501

2  Granovetter, M.S. . “The Strength of Weak Ties”, Amer. J. of Sociology, Vol. 78, Issue 6, May 1973

3 Easley, D. and Kleinberg, J. Networks Crowds and Markets. Cambridge University Press, 2010.

4 Lecture Notes on Graph Theory – http://www.edshare.soton.ac.uk/6662/1/3-graph-theory-social-nets.pdf

Image Credits: http://crzyjcky.com/2013/01/20/who-will-be-your-next-friend/