Structure in online social networks: Bridging the micro-macro gap

In the past few years researchers have started examining macro structural properties of friendship and messaging relations in online social networks. However, research efforts seemed to disregard an important question: what micro processes create that structure? In this paper two modeling methods for examining micro forces that give rise to macro network patterns in online social networks are suggested: ERGM, exponential random graph models, and SIENA, an agent-based modeling approach for network dynamics. Applicability of the suggested approaches is evaluated, their limitations analyzed, and potential improvements of these models for the analysis of online social networks are suggested.