
Online Social Networks ◾ 183
e authors found that the middle region consisted of about 10% of users and discov-
ered the presence of ‘stars’—single, charismatic individuals around whom isolated com-
munities developed. ey found that these stars quickly attracted friends before either
merging with the giant component (a tightly interconnected core of very active members
who form the ‘heart’ of the social network) or ceasing altogether when the individual
lost interest.
Mislove et al. (2007) found a similar structure for Orkut and LiveJournal with a densely
connected core of nodes that demonstrate a high degree of inter-connectivity w