Part.1: Swarm theory and Social Networks

I recently read an article on the Nat Geo site about Swarm Theory and how it is being applied to other areas of science/technology such as DARPA. This theory is something which I believe is applicable to social networking but trying to identify the particular roles networkers take up is difficult.

The article highlights the fact that Swarm theory only works because of the simple acts which all members of the group combine to do to create a more complex behavior. The article points to the example of the Ant..”Ant’s aren’t smart, but Ant colonies are”. But that does ask the question…who controls the swarm? how does it know where to go? what to do? how to act?

This is where I think the application to social networking is interesting. Another article I read recently talked about the “ebb and flow of social networks” which made me wonder why this actually happened, what or who drives users to a new social networking site?

Swarm theory seems to be the answer to this but creates complexities in examining who does what job. With ants there are patrollers, foragers and maintenance workers, yet they all seems to combine to form one swarm. With bees, its scouts that go out and investigate first finding the best place for the swarm. So who are the scouts or the patrollers in social networks?

My idea of characteristics for these scouts/patrollers are:

• High influence, characterized by number of links in and out to pages/blogs
• Reducing frequency of visit to old site, which suggests changing patterns of interest
• Increasing negativity to old site, characterized by negative comments across site and possible anti-intrusion stance

In the next part I will attempt to identify what type of site these scouts look to “nest” in and its characteristics.

Matt Bamford-Bowes