Proof of Concept for Comparison and Classification of Online Social Network Friends Based on Tie Strength Calculation Model

Facebook, the popular online social network, is used on daily basis by over 1 billion people each day. Its users use it for message exchange, sharing photos, publishing statuses etc. Recent research shows that a possibility exists of determining the connection level (or strength of their friendship, tie strength) between users based on analyzing their interaction on Facebook. The aim of this paper is to explore, as a proof of concept, the possibility of using a model for calculating strength of friendship to compare and classify ego-user’s Facebook friends. A survey, which involved more than 2500 people and collected a significant amount of data, was conducted through a developed web application. Analysis of collected data revealed that the model can determine with a high level of accuracy the stronger connections of ego-user and classify ego-user’s friends into several groups according to the estimated strength of their friendship. Conducted research is the base for creating an enriched social graph – graph which shows all kinds of relations between people and their intensity. Results of this research have plenty of potential uses, one of which is specifically improvement of the education process, especially in the segment of e- learning.