This volume is organized in the form of a tree with roots, a trunk, and branches. The roots (Part I: Chapters 1 through 3) provide grounding in the history and core concepts of social media and social network analysis. The trunk (Part II: Chapters 4 through 8) focuses on the practical details of operating the free and open source NodeXL extension of the familiar Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application used for all exercises in this volume. And the branches (Part III: Chapters 9 through 14) each focus on one form of social media by describing each system, the nature of the networks that are created when people interact through it, and the kinds of analysis that can be performed to identify key people, documents, groups, and events. The results are actionable insights that can guide community managers, marketers, organizations, and members as they try to improve the quality and value of their social media initiatives.

Part I discusses the novel ways people connect through social media tools and the formal network analysis techniques that can elucidate those connections. Chapter 1 provides a high-level overview of social media initiatives and network science, explaining why the two can be so effectively combined. Chapter 2 describes the design space of social media tools, providing examples of different types of connections created by popular tools. Finally, Chapter 3 introduces the core concepts of social network analysis and visualization, which will be put to work in the remainder of the book to understand social media networks. The chapters assume no prior knowledge of these topics.