Arizona State University

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

  CENTER FOR SOCIAL DYNAMICS AND COMPLEXITY

Department of Mathematics and Statistics




Mathematics and Cognition  Seminar

Fall 2007

Tuesdays 12:15  ISTB1-401

Seminar Schedule:<http://math.la.asu.edu/~tom/cognition/math+cogsched.html>

On Tuesday, October 2,  at 12:15 Noon in ISTB1-401,
the Mathematics and Cognition Seminar 
will present a discussion with Huan Liu,

of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering
 
on the topic of 

"Issues of Searching for `Familiar Strangers' on
Blogosphere"

Abstract
In this work, we examine familiar strangers on Blogosphere and issues of finding them. In our daily life, familiar strangers, as coined by Stanley Milgram, do not know each other, but frequently exhibit some common patterns. Blogosphere is a part of the Web where bloggers post in individual or community blog sites. The nature of the Web is a scale-free network, which determines that a power law distribution applies to bloggers. That is, the majority bloggers are only connected with a small number of fellow bloggers, and these blogging groups are largely disconnected from each other. Familiar strangers on Blogosphere are not directly connected, but share some patterns in their blogging activities. We present a new problem: Aggregating familiar strangers on Blogosphere that allows for better personalized services, targeted marketing, exploration of new business opportunities, and predictive modeling and marketing. Finding familiar strangers on Blogosphere presents a challenge resulting from their disconnectedness. We look at typical blogs and understand the status quo, while  seeking innovative ways to improve business intelligence. We define the problem of searching for familiar strangers on Blogosphere, elucidate the significance of doing so, study the challenges of finding them, and present and discuss some potential approaches.