Social graph

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The Social Graph is a model that depicts the relationships among individuals in social networks. This concept, popularized by Facebook[2] in 2007, is not limited to people but also includes other objects such as photos, events, and pages, expanding the concept to non-human elements. This model is widely utilized in social network[1] analysis, social commerce, and marketing. However, it’s not without its challenges. There are concerns over the ownership and monetization of social graph data, and issues like lack of seamless experience across various platforms. Despite Google[3] retiring its Social Graph API[4] in 2012, Facebook’s Social Graph continues to be a significant dataset, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg aiming for wider sharing of the data. Related concepts include sociomapping, sociometry, and anthropological linguistics.

Terms definitions
1. social network.
1 A social network, as the term suggests, is a system that connects various individuals or organizations, also known as social actors. It's not just about online platforms like Facebook or Twitter, but about the intricate web of connections between these actors. The relationships, known as dyadic ties, allow for interaction and communication. By studying these networks, we can identify patterns and understand how influence works within the group. The field of social network analysis has roots in several areas such as social psychology, sociology, statistics, and graph theory. It's an evolving interdisciplinary field that uses various methods to analyze these social structures and provides theoretical explanations for the observed patterns. Key figures like Georg Simmel and Jacob Moreno have made significant contributions to this field.
2 A social network is a structure made up of individuals or organizations, known as actors, and the relationships or connections between them, referred to as ties. It is a field deeply rooted in disciplines such as sociology, psychology, statistics, and graph theory. The analysis of these networks, known as Social Network Analysis, involves identifying patterns, pinpointing influential entities, and studying how these networks evolve over time. It uses a variety of methodologies to study these structures. The development of this field has been significantly influenced by figures like Georg Simmel and Jacob Moreno, who made significant contributions to social network theories and methods. The study of social networks is interdisciplinary in nature, employing diverse methods to analyze network dynamics and patterns.
2. Facebook ( Facebook ) Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, is a major Internet company that started as a social networking platform. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, Facebook expanded rapidly from Harvard to other universities and later to the general public, becoming a global phenomenon. It is known for its user-friendly interface and various features such as Groups, the Developer Platform, and Facebook Dating. Despite facing criticism for issues like privacy breaches and the spread of fake news, Facebook has remained a dominant player in the online world. It has made significant strides in the field of technology, including the development of its unique data storage system, the use of PHP for its platform, and the launch of the Hack programming language. In recent years, the company has shifted its focus to the metaverse, a virtual reality space where users can interact with a computer-generated environment.
Social graph (Wikipedia)

The social graph is a graph that represents social relations between entities. In short, it is a model or representation of a social network, where the word graph has been taken from graph theory. The social graph has been referred to as "the global mapping of everybody and how they're related".

A drawing of a graph in which each person is represented by a dot called a node and the friendship relationship is represented by a line called an edge
This animation shows the different types of relations between social objects. User Eva is a friend of Adam and Kate, though Adam and Kate are not friends themselves. Peter's photo was "liked" by many users, including Eva. Also Eva listened to the Last.fm radio and watched the video from YouTube.

The term was used as early as 1964, albeit in the context of isoglosses. Leo Apostel uses the term in the context here in 1978. The concept was originally called sociogram.

The term was popularized at the Facebook F8 conference on May 24, 2007, when it was used to explain how the newly introduced Facebook Platform would take advantage of the relationships between individuals to offer a richer online experience. The definition has been expanded to refer to a social graph of all Internet users.

Since explaining the concept of the social graph, Mark Zuckerberg, one of the founders of Facebook, has often touted Facebook's goal of offering the website's social graph to other websites so that a user's relationships can be put to use on websites outside Facebook's control.

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