%0 Journal Article %1 Watts:2002p603 %A Watts, D %A Dodds, P %A Newman, M %D 2002 %J Science %K imported %N 5571 %P 1302 -- 1305 %T Identity and Search in Social Networks %V 296 %X Social networks have the surprising property of being "searchable": Ordinary people are capable of directing messages through their network of acquaintances to reach a specific but distant target person in only a few steps. We present a model that offers an explanation of social network searchability in terms of recognizable personal identities: sets of characteristics measured along a number of social dimensions. Our model defines a class of searchable networks and a method for searching them that may be applicable to many network search problems, including the location of data files in peer-to-peer networks, pages on the World Wide Web, and information in distributed databases.

@article{Watts:2002p603, abstract = {Social networks have the surprising property of being "searchable": Ordinary people are capable of directing messages through their network of acquaintances to reach a specific but distant target person in only a few steps. We present a model that offers an explanation of social network searchability in terms of recognizable personal identities: sets of characteristics measured along a number of social dimensions. Our model defines a class of searchable networks and a method for searching them that may be applicable to many network search problems, including the location of data files in peer-to-peer networks, pages on the World Wide Web, and information in distributed databases.}, added-at = {2009-02-08T16:38:56.000+0100}, author = {Watts, D and Dodds, P and Newman, M}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/264e43756e325f063631bc915b35c0588/svsegbro}, date-added = {2008-05-29 18:09:15 +0200}, date-modified = {2008-08-08 17:43:31 +0200}, interhash = {e516c79c662cdeaaa49b9136066ab46b}, intrahash = {64e43756e325f063631bc915b35c0588}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {imported}, local-url = {file://localhost/Users/sven/Documents/Papers/2002/Watts/Science%202002%20Watts.pdf}, number = 5571, pages = {1302 -- 1305}, rating = {0}, read = {Yes}, timestamp = {2009-02-08T16:38:59.000+0100}, title = {Identity and Search in Social Networks}, uri = {papers://B7B184F3-8CE5-4C43-B61C-B7952DE67982/Paper/p603}, volume = 296, year = 2002 }