Distinctiveness Centrality in Social Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces five new measures of Distinctiveness Centrality in social networks, emphasizing nodes with unique, less-connected ties, offering an alternative perspective to traditional centrality metrics.

Contribution

The paper proposes five novel Distinctiveness Centrality metrics that highlight nodes with distinctive, peripheral connections, expanding the tools for social network analysis.

Findings

New metrics identify socially distinctive nodes

Metrics penalize connections to highly-connected nodes

Distinctiveness centrality offers an alternative to traditional measures

Abstract

The determination of node centrality is a fundamental topic in social network studies. As an addition to established metrics, which identify central nodes based on their brokerage power, the number and weight of their connections, and the ability to quickly reach all other nodes, we introduce five new measures of Distinctiveness Centrality. These new metrics attribute a higher score to nodes keeping a connection with the network periphery. They penalize links to highly-connected nodes and serve the identification of social actors with more distinctive network ties. We discuss some possible applications and properties of these newly introduced metrics, such as their upper and lower bounds. Distinctiveness centrality provides a viewpoint of centrality alternative to that of established metrics.