Information access representations and social capital in networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a formal method to quantify social capital in online networks by modeling information access, enabling analysis of group inequalities based on network positions.

Contribution

It proposes a novel formal descriptor of social capital based on information flow models, linking network position to social advantage.

Findings

Effective identification of group inequalities in information access

Representation of social capital across real-world networks

Quantitative measures of access inequality

Abstract

Social network position confers power and social capital. In the setting of online social networks that have massive reach, creating mathematical representations of social capital is an important step towards understanding how network position can differentially confer advantage to different groups and how network position can itself be a source of advantage. In this paper, we use well established models for information flow on networks as a base to propose a formal descriptor of the network position of a node as represented by its information access. Combining these descriptors allows a full representation of social capital across the network. Using real-world networks, we demonstrate that this representation allows the identification of differences between groups based on network specific measures of inequality of access.