ASONAM 2014 panel: Influence in social networking and the effective of its analysis and mining in the era of electronic communication

Summary form only given, as follows. The rapid advancement in technology and the wide spread usage of handheld devices have influenced the way people communicate and behave. The influence shifted from local to global. Marketing is moving from merely commercials on the TV and in newspapers, and panels on the highways into more web and social media based. Online reviews of products and commodities are widely available and highly influencing the general opinion. Various po stings on the social media are initiating discussions that promote some influential bodies within the involved communities, and this might have direct effect on various aspects of the daily life from political to economical. The goal of this panel is to discuss the following issues: (1) Volatility, dynamism and persistence of influence; (2) How to identify and influence the influencers? (3) How is the influence spreading and how may various parties (individuals, groups, officials, private sector, public sector, etc.) benefit from the network analysis and mining methods available? (4) Are the available platforms and techniques sufficient to deal with the rapidly accumulated huge amounts of logs and traces left by people communicating online? (5) What are organizations looking for in terms of network analysis and mining that current technology falls short on? What are the critical obstacles to be overcome? (6)Are there cases in which network analysis and mining did not deliver stellar results - and if so, why? Each participant will make a brief position statement at the beginning of the panel discussion (~4 minutes, no slides please) followed by a discussion amongst panelists for about 30 minutes. After this, the floor will be thrown open to the audience for a free flowing discussion.