Facebook knows you better than you think
When we think about social networks, we often think about them in relations to the members of your network. For Facebook, a typical network would consist of people that are your friends (nodes), as well as friendship (edges). But a lot less often do we consider the consequences of our actions of networks in terms […]
Laniakea, An Immeasurable Heaven
Scientists have recently made a breakthrough in the knowledge of the organization of the heavens within our universe. It has long been known that galaxies grouped together in clusters or even larger groups of clusters called superclusters, but at times, these were not precisely defined. But now, in unprecedented detail, scientists have mapped our local […]
Are “Friends of Friends” really our Friends?
I grew up in a community where everybody knew everybody, where connections like, “your sister’s best friend is friends with my roommate’s brother”, are commonplace. Everybody was somehow connected, and weirdly enough, these connections seemed to span hundreds of miles from my suburban town in New Jersey to New York City, Boston, Florida, Chicago, even […]
Justification for Facebook’s Huge Market Capitalization
According to this USA Today article, Facebook’s market capitalization is $250 billion dollars. Market capitalization is the number of outstanding stocks multiplied by the price of the stock. Some people may think that Facebook’s market cap is overly optimistic and over-valued. However, even though $250 billion is an astronomical amount, the number can be justified. […]
Strong Triadic Closure in Politics
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/09/09/donald-trump-brings-theatrics-to-iran-nuclear-deal-protest/ The major point of this article is discussing the theatrics behind politics in general, and more specifically, the theatrics of Donald Trump in the recent anti-Iran-Deal rally in Washington D.C. As the article states, “The businessman (Mr. Trump) arrived well ahead of his speaking slot, and as he lingered, cameras and reporters swarmed, a […]
Networks in the Syrian Refugee Crisis
Watching the news these days, it’s difficult to go without hearing about the Syrian refugee crisis. Syrians are fleeing their war-torn country in droves due to unsafe living conditions. They are leaving by boats, cars, trucks, and trains with their most important belongings and seeking shelter in countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South […]
Middle Eastern Politics: Structural Stability in Political Relationships
One of the most obvious applications of structural balance to complete graphs is international politics. However, this dynamic could be no clearer, with far-reaching impacts, than the current situation in the Middle East. As ISIS continues to expand its hold on Syria, Iraq, and so many other countries within the Levant, it becomes in the […]
International Relations in the Context of Game Theory
Al-Jazeera, a news agency based in the Qatar recently published an article with the headline, “Russia Hedges Bets in Syria With Increased Military Role.” Interestingly, Qatar votes in the United Nations align significantly with the United States creating the assumption that the enemy (Russia) of a friend (USA) is my enemy, in a stable network. […]
Effects of balance and imbalanced networks on gang violence
Gang rivalries and alliances pop up in urban landscapes as a natural consequence of interactions among gangs. There isn’t always violence between rival gangs, because gangs’ actions are influenced by their relationships to other, third-party gangs. Here, because gangs are social phenomena in which individuals adhere to their gang’s creed and actions, we can assume […]
Discussion of Facebook Friend Suggestion
https://blog.udemy.com/how-does-facebook-suggest-friends/ This article talked about anecdotes of Facebook suggestion system and analyzed how it works and makes profit. People might feel weird when suggestion of “unfamiliar” or “dislike” friends popped up. The user Miranda has questioned this. This article discussed a situation that user A stalked B and then B might receive the suggestion of […]