Betweenness and Closeness - Indicators

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Which node has power in a network?

http://www.orgnet.com/PowerInNetworks.pdf


"They say the golden rule in Real Estate is: Location, Location, Location. Might this rule also hold in social networks? In real estate, location is determined by geography - your physical location. In social networks, location is determined by your connections and the connections of those around you - your virtual location. Two social network measures, Betweenness and Closeness, are particularly revealing of a node's advantageous or constrained location in a network. The values of both metrics are dependent upon the pattern of connections that a node is embedded in. Betweenness measures the control a node has over what flows in the network - how often is this node on the path between other nodes? Closeness measures how easily a node can access what is available via the network - how quickly can this node reach all others in the network? A combination where a node has easy access to others, while controlling the access of other nodes in the network, reveals high informal power."