Tsvetovat M., Kouznetsov A. Social Network Analysis for Startups

O’Reilly, 2011. — 174 p.Almost every startup company in 2011 uses the word “social” in their business plans —although few actually know how to analyze and understand the social processes that can result in their firms’ success or failure. If you are working in social media, social CRM, social marketing, organizational consulting, etc., you should read this book for insights on how social systems evolve and change, and how to detect what is going on.
Despite the title, the book is not just for startups. In fact, it is a “course-in-a-book”, encapsulating nearly a semester’s worth of theoretical and practical material—read it and you will know enough about social network analysis to be “dangerous”. If you are a student in the field, we strongly encourage you to seek out and read every paper and book referred to in the footnotes. This will make you conversant in the classic literature of the field and enable you to confidently start your own research project.
If you are of a technical or computer science background, this book will introduce you to major sociological concepts and tie them back into things that can be programmed, and data that can be analyzed. If your background is social sciences or marketing, you may find some of the background material familiar, but at the same time will learn the quantitative and programmatic approaches to understanding humans in a social setting.