Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL: Insights from a Connected World

by Derek L. Hansen, Ben Shneiderman, Marc A. Smith

Businesses, entrepreneurs, individuals, and government agencies alike are looking to social network analysis (SNA) tools for insight into trends, connections, and fluctuations in social media. Microsoft's NodeXL is a free, open-source SNA plug-in for use with Excel. It provides instant graphical representation of relationships of complex networked data. But it goes further than other SNA tools -- NodeXL was developed by a multidisciplinary team of experts that bring together information studies, computer science, sociology, human-computer interaction, and over 20 years of visual analytic theory and information visualization into a simple tool anyone can use. This makes NodeXL of interest not only to end-users but also to researchers and students studying visual and network analytics and their application in the real world. In Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL, members of the NodeXL development team up to provide readers with a thorough and practical guide for using the tool while also explaining the development behind each feature. Blending the theoretical with the practical, this book applies specific SNA instructions directly to NodeXL, but the theory behind the implementation can be applied to any SNA. To learn more about Analyzing Social Media Networks and NodeXL, visit the companion site at mkp.com/nodexlWalks readers through using NodeXL while explaining the theory and development behind each step, providing takeaways that can apply any SNADemonstrates how visual analytics research can be applied to SNA tools for the mass marketPresents readers with case studies using NodeXL on popular networks like email, Facebook, Twitter, and wikis

Genres: Technology

762 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 27, 2010

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The scrappy little Excel plugin, NodeXL, has amazing potential for measuring and visualizing all kinds of digital networks. My marketing media class took it for a test run, and this book was an able guide, featuring cookbook-style instruction and lots of pretty pictures.

The first section, which gives obvious explanations of every type of every digital network imaginable, is only helpful if you're 85 years old or have been living off the grid for the past 10 years. The sections on applying NodeXL were quite relevant, though, especially in the email and Twitter network examples. Some formula examples in the book no longer work with the latest version of NodeXL.

[Ryan Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit out of date at this point, but still a good introduction.

[Cedric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book, interesting concepts in social networking, the current pro version of the tool has outgrown the menu options in the book.

[CO · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is sufficient for the people who wants to start from somewhere. Clear definition fed and satisfied the curiosity.

[Enrico]

well, it's about this microsoft product, and I don't know why it's all about twitter.

[Pantaleon Fassbender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource on a quite fascinating instrument.

[Maryam Baratzadeh]

a