Abstract

A virtual social network is the network of human beings linked by relationships extracted from the data about their common communication which is supported by computers or other electronic devices. The social position of an individual described in the paper is a new centrality measure of personal social statement within the weighted and directed network. The value of social position depends on both the strength of relationships a person maintains as well as the social positions of all their acquaintances. Moreover, not only is the social position inherited from others but the level of inheritance depends on the commitment in activity of the acquaintances directed to this person. The main features of the social position measure that result from its iterative calculation as well as experiments on real data including email communication are presented in this paper.