research-article

"You Never Call, You Never Write": Call and SMS Logs Do Not Always Indicate Tie Strength

Authors:

John ZimmermanAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '15: Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing

Pages 765 - 774

https://doi.org/10.1145/2675133.2675143

Published: 28 February 2015 Publication History

Abstract

How effective are call and SMS logs in modeling tie strength? Frequency and duration of communication has long been cited as a major aspect of tie strength. Intuitively, this makes sense: people communicate with those that they feel close to. Highly cited research papers have pushed this idea further, using communication as a direct proxy for tie strength. However, this operationalization has not been validated. Our work evaluates this assumption. We collected call and SMS logs and ground truth relationship data from 36 participants. Consistent with theory, we found that frequent or long-duration communication likely indicates a strong tie. However, the use of call and SMS logs produced many errors in separating strong and weak ties, suggesting this approach is incomplete. Follow-up interviews indicate fundamental challenges for inferring tie strength from communication logs.

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Kqiku LReinhardt D(2023)Lengthy early morning instant messages reveal more than you think: Analysing interpersonal relationships using mobile communication metadataPervasive and Mobile Computing10.1016/j.pmcj.2023.10178191(101781)Online publication date: Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmcj.2023.101781
Lee HChiang YChou YLin KChang Y(2023)What makes IM users (un)responsiveInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102983172:COnline publication date: 1-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102983
Meyerhoff JLiu TStamatis CLiu TWang HMeng YCurtis BKarr CSherman GUngar LMohr D(2023)Analyzing text message linguistic features: Do people with depression communicate differently with their close and non-close contacts?Behaviour Research and Therapy10.1016/j.brat.2023.104342166(104342)Online publication date: Jul-2023
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Index Terms

"You Never Call, You Never Write": Call and SMS Logs Do Not Always Indicate Tie Strength
1. Human-centered computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CSCW '15: Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing

February 2015

1956 pages

ISBN:9781450329224

DOI:10.1145/2675133

General Chairs:
Dan Cosley
Cornell University, USA
,
Andrea Forte
Drexel University, USA
,
Program Chairs:
Luigina Ciolfi
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
,
David McDonald
University of Washington, USA

Copyright © 2015 ACM.

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Published: 28 February 2015

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Office of Naval Research
National Science Foundation
Google Faculty Research Award
Yahoo

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CSCW '15

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SIGCHI

CSCW '15: Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

March 14 - 18, 2015

BC, Vancouver, Canada

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CSCW '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 161 of 575 submissions, 28%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 2,235 of 8,521 submissions, 26%

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CSCW '25

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Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

October 18 - 22, 2025

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Cited By

Kqiku LReinhardt D(2023)Lengthy early morning instant messages reveal more than you think: Analysing interpersonal relationships using mobile communication metadataPervasive and Mobile Computing10.1016/j.pmcj.2023.10178191(101781)Online publication date: Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmcj.2023.101781
Lee HChiang YChou YLin KChang Y(2023)What makes IM users (un)responsiveInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102983172:COnline publication date: 1-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102983
Meyerhoff JLiu TStamatis CLiu TWang HMeng YCurtis BKarr CSherman GUngar LMohr D(2023)Analyzing text message linguistic features: Do people with depression communicate differently with their close and non-close contacts?Behaviour Research and Therapy10.1016/j.brat.2023.104342166(104342)Online publication date: Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2023.104342
Stolz SSchlereth C(2022)Predicting Tie Strength with Ego Network StructuresJournal of Interactive Marketing10.1016/j.intmar.2020.10.00154:1(40-52)Online publication date: 31-Jan-2022
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2020.10.001
Nakić MMikloušić I(2022)Beyond Pen and Paper: Reimagining Assessment of Personal Relationships and Quality of Life Using Digital TechnologiesQuantifying Quality of Life10.1007/978-3-030-94212-0_14(355-369)Online publication date: 14-Apr-2022
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Wiese J(2021)Personal Context from Mobile Phones—Case Study 5Intelligent Computing for Interactive System Design10.1145/3447404.3447424(341-376)Online publication date: 23-Feb-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3447404.3447424
Neuhäuser LStamm FLemmerich FSchaub MStrohmaier M(2021)Simulating systematic bias in attributed social networks and its effect on rankings of minority nodesApplied Network Science10.1007/s41109-021-00425-z6:1Online publication date: 2-Nov-2021
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Liu TNicholas JTheilig MGuntuku SKording KMohr DUngar L(2020)Machine Learning for Phone-Based Relationship EstimationProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/33698203:4(1-23)Online publication date: 14-Sep-2020
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Thakur SRoy R(2020)Predicting mental health using smart-phone usage and sensor dataJournal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing10.1007/s12652-020-02616-5Online publication date: 2-Nov-2020
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Noor FUsman Akram MShah AAhmad Khan S(2019)Key individual identification using dimensional relevance in the stratum of networksJournal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems10.3233/JIFS-181517(1-15)Online publication date: 3-Aug-2019
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