Complex Network Analysis in Python

Distinguish Strong and Weak Ties

Hardcore social network researchers call social network graph edges “ties.” In this section, I will sometimes refer to edges as ties—mostly out of respect to Mark Granovetter who introduced [Gra73] and elaborated [Gra83] the concept of weak and strong ties and later showed that weak ties are “strong.” In a sense, he was the first social researcher to consider weighted social networks.

Granovetter did not propose a mechanism for quantifying the strength of a tie, but offered four criteria to consider:

• The amount of time spent in the tie
• Emotional intensity
• Intimacy (mutual trust)
• Reciprocity

You may be able to evaluate the first and the last criteria, but the middle two require looking into the contents of the ...