Link creation and profile alignment in the aNobii social network

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the structural and dynamic properties of the aNobii social network, focusing on how profile similarity influences link creation and how social links promote profile alignment among users.

Contribution

It provides an in-depth longitudinal analysis revealing reciprocal causal relationships between profile similarity and social link formation in aNobii.

Findings

Profile similarity drives link creation

Social links promote profile alignment

Reciprocal causal relationship between profiles and links

Abstract

The present work investigates the structural and dynamical properties of aNobii\footnote{http://www.anobii.com/}, a social bookmarking system designed for readers and book lovers. Users of aNobii provide information about their library, reading interests and geographical location, and they can establish typed social links to other users. Here, we perform an in-depth analysis of the system's social network and its interplay with users' profiles. We describe the relation of geographic and interest-based factors to social linking. Furthermore, we perform a longitudinal analysis to investigate the interplay of profile similarity and link creation in the social network, with a focus on triangle closure. We report a reciprocal causal connection: profile similarity of users drives the subsequent closure in the social network and, reciprocally, closure in the social network induces subsequent profile alignment. Access to the dynamics of the social network also allows us to measure quantitative indicators of preferential linking.