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Research on online social networks: time to face the real challenges

Published: 21 January 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Online Social Networks (OSNs) provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study how a combination of technological, economical, and social forces have been conspiring to provide a service that has attracted the largest user population in the history of the Internet. With more than half a billion of users and counting, OSNs have the potential to impact almost every aspect of networking, including measurement and performance modeling and analysis, network architecture and system design, and privacy and user behavior, to name just a few. However, much of the existing OSN research literature seems to have lost sight of this unique opportunity and has avoided dealing with the new challenges posed by OSNs. We argue in this position paper that it is high time for OSN researcher to exploit and face these challenges to provide a basic understanding of the OSN ecosystem as a whole. Such an understanding has to reflect the key role users play in this system and must focus on the system's dynamics, purpose and functionality when trying to illuminate the main technological, economic, and social forces at work in the current OSN revolution.

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review
ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review  Volume 37, Issue 3
December 2009
70 pages
ISSN:0163-5999
DOI:10.1145/1710115
Issue’s Table of Contents

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 21 January 2010
Published in SIGMETRICS Volume 37, Issue 3

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  • (2016)Analysis of a Korea-based Language Teacher Organization Public Social Networking ServiceInternational Journal of Contents10.5392/IJoC.2016.12.2.06612:2(66-74)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2016
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