Community evolution and engagement through assortative mixing in online social networks

In this exploratory paper, we examine the evolution and engagement of an online community through a ten-year period. Data is collected from an online public discussion forum provided by a government-sponsored website specifically developed for community capacity building. We postulate that there are clear patterns of assortativity where similar actors engage in communication with each other over time. Results show that there is a clear pattern of networks losing their disassortative character in the early years followed by disassortative networks in the later years. The network-level results challenges government-level metrics of community-building success and suggests network analysis as an empirical avenue for understanding social processes involved in the very nature of community building.