Tastes, Ties, Andtime: Anewsocialnetworkdatasetusingfacebook.Com

Social Networks 30 (2008) 330–342

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Social Networks journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/socnet

Tastes, ties, and time: A new social network dataset using Facebook.com
Kevin Lewis a,∗ , Jason Kaufman a , Marco Gonzalez a , Andreas Wimmer b , Nicholas Christakis a a b

Department of Sociology, Harvard University, United States Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, United States

a r t i c l e
Keywords: Internet Network data Facebook Culture Race/ethnicity Higher education Tastes

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Scholars have long recognized the potential of Internet-based communication technologies for improving network research—potential that, to date, remains largely underexploited. In the first half of this paper, we introduce a new public dataset based on manipulations and embellishments of a popular social network site, Facebook.com. We emphasize five distinctive features of this dataset and highlight its advantages and limitations vis-à-vis other kinds of network data. In the second half of this paper, we present descriptive findings from our first wave of data. Subgroups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status are characterized by distinct network behaviors, and students sharing social relationships as well as demographic traits tend to share a significant number of cultural preferences. These findings exemplify the scientific and pedagogical potential of this new network resource and provide a starting point for future analyses. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction In recent decades, the “science of networks” (Watts, 2007) has developed into a thriving field of social scientific inquiry (see also Rogers, 1987; Emirbayer and Goodwin, 1994; Watts, 2004). Specialty journals (e.g. Social Networks) and conferences (e.g. the International Sunbelt Social Network Conference) have contributed to the rapid development of network theory and methods.

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