Structure and Spatial Concentration of Individual Social Networks in Urban Settings = Egyéni szintű társadalmi kapcsolathálózatok szerkezete és térbeli koncentrációja városi környezetben

Abstract

The dense co-location of people and their complex interactions in social and economic networks made urban areas the global engines of technological and economic progress. Despite the importance of social ties in knowledge sharing and social capital building, the spatial and structural patterns of urban residents’ social networks are less investigated. This study aims to uncover how home and work location of individuals shape the spatial concentration and structure of their social ties. The context of the empirical analysis is the New York Metropolitan Area, where the home and work location of thousands of users is identified through their geotagged messages on Twitter. The study combines the frequent locations of users with their spatially projected online social networks and data on census tract level household income from the American Community Survey. Findings suggest that both home and work locations concentrate online social ties, with the effect of the latter being the stronger. Users living in neighborhoods with below-median income level are found to have a significantly denser, more closed and cohesive friendship network around their home locations. The study contributes to two main strands of the literature. First, to the discussion on the role of geographical proximity on social tie formation in urban settings. Second, to the discussion on social capital related network measures in large-scale online social networks.