Title: Identifying communities and influential node in Facebook fan page - a case study of FJU 2013 ad camp

Authors: Kun-Shan Wu; Pei-Chuan Chang

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Tamkang University, Taiwan ' Department of Management Sciences, Tamkang University, Taiwan; Department of Advertising and Public Relations, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taiwan

Abstract: In this paper, we contribute to the understanding of a business-like Facebook fan page by investigating the network structure of FJU ad camp fan page created exclusively for summer camp recruitment. In our approach, we first characterise the network structure of ad camp Facebook fan-page. We then use motif simplification technique to reveal the construct of the network. In this network, we discover 27 different cliques of different size that each composed by completely connected nodes inside. We compute group and node specific metrics, and identify influential nodes in the Facebook fan page by using network- and node-level measures. We discuss the clique and its role as an influential 'hub' in information dissemination. Understanding how influential nodes related to each other and exert their influence in a social network can help campaign organiser to initiate an effective social media campaign.

Keywords: social networks; social network analysis; SNA; NodeXL; PageRank; motif simplification; Facebook; 1-degree networks; strong ties; weak ties; centrality measures; community identification; influential nodes; fan pages; case study; online communities; virtual communities; web based communities; FJU ad camp; summer camp recruitment; summer camps; cliques; information dissemination; social media campaigns.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWBC.2016.080813

International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2016 Vol.12 No.4, pp.376 - 392

Received: 14 Jan 2016
Accepted: 12 Feb 2016
Published online: 08 Dec 2016 *

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